amah

[ ah-muh, am-uh ]

noun(in India and East Asia)
  1. a baby's nurse, especially a wet nurse.

  2. a female servant; maid.

Origin of amah

1
First recorded in 1830–40; from Portuguese ama “nurse, governess” from Medieval Latin amma “wet nurse,” perhaps alteration of Latin mamma “breast”

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use amah in a sentence

  • Women take their children and their amahs everywhere in ChinaI mean wherever they go and provided they want to; it is the custom.

  • There in the morning the cook-rice amahs found the onyx stones that had been their eyes.

  • Besides this there were two amahs (old women servants) and four servant girls all carrying something.

    Two Years in the Forbidden City | The Princess Der Ling
  • This time I saw the servant girls, amahs, and also eunuchs carrying boxes, walking on both sides of the shore.

    Two Years in the Forbidden City | The Princess Der Ling
  • There were several open boats full of eunuchs, and another one of servant girls, amahs and the rest with Her Majesty's luncheon.

    Two Years in the Forbidden City | The Princess Der Ling

British Dictionary definitions for amah

amah

/ (ˈɑːmə, ˈæmə) /


noun
  1. (in the East, esp formerly) a nurse or maidservant, esp one of Chinese origin: Compare ayah

Origin of amah

1
C19: from Portuguese ama nurse, wet nurse

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012