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amah

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Portuguese ama (female nurse), from Medieval Latin amma (wet nurse, amma), perhaps an alteration of Latin mamma, of imitative origin, or from Ancient Greek.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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amah (plural amahs)

  1. (India) A woman employed to look after children; (formerly) a wet nurse.
  2. (Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia) A female domestic helper; a maid.
    • 1977, John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy, Folio Society, published 2010, page 20:
      Then one day he disappeared and when Luke called apprehensively at his apartment the old amah told him that ‘Whisky Papa runrun London fastee.’

See also

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Anagrams

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Afar

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /aˈmah/ [ʔʌˈmʌh]
  • Hyphenation: a‧mah

Pronoun

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amáh

  1. this, that (masculine; proximal to the spoken to)

Declension

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Declension of amáh
absolutive amáh
predicative amáha
subjective amáh
genitive amáh
Postpositioned forms
l-case amáhal
k-case amáhak
t-case amáhat
h-case amáhah

See also

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References

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  • Mohamed Hassan Kamil (2015) L’afar: description grammaticale d’une langue couchitique (Djibouti, Erythrée et Ethiopie)[1], Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis)

Brunei Malay

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Etymology

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From Arabic أَمَة (ʔama).

Noun

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amah

  1. A female domestic worker, a housemaid.

Indonesian

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈa.mah/
  • Rhymes: -mah
  • Hyphenation: a‧mah

Etymology 1

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Borrowed from Hokkien 阿媽阿妈.

Noun

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amah

  1. a (Chinese) woman who works as a housemaid

Etymology 2

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From Arabic عَامَّة (ʕāmma).

Noun

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amah

  1. ordinary or most people

Etymology 3

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From Malay amah, from Arabic أَمَة (ʔama).

Noun

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amah

  1. housemaid (a female domestic worker)

Etymology 4

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Noun

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amah

  1. alternative form of amati (paternal blood aunt)

Further reading

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Malay

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Etymology

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From Arabic أَمَة (ʔama).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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amah (Jawi spelling امه, plural amah-amah, informal 1st possessive amahku, 2nd possessive amahmu, 3rd possessive amahnya)

  1. maidservant, nursemaid, housemaid

Descendants

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  • Indonesian: amah

Further reading

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Tedim Chin

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Etymology

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The first part (a-) from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ʔa. Cognates include Zou ema.

Pronoun

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amah

  1. he, she

References

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  • Zomi Ordbog based on the work of D.L. Haokip