amah
Americannoun
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a baby's nurse, especially a wet nurse.
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a female servant; maid.
noun
Etymology
Origin of amah
First recorded in 1830–40; from Portuguese ama “nurse, governess” from Medieval Latin amma “wet nurse,” perhaps alteration of Latin mamma “breast”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Boonnitipat says much of his own amah shows up in the character.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 8, 2025
Their monthly wage bill for a cook, a washing and cleaning amah, and their baby's amah amounts to only $151.
From Time Magazine Archive
I finally managed to persuade them to let me take the child out for a walk, and the amah even consented to do it too.
From Time Magazine Archive
She had a horror of untidiness: an English friend describes how she impatiently snatched a dustcloth from a shiftless amah one day and dusted a whole room, exclaiming against dirt.
From Time Magazine Archive
Maybe the family would let her stay on as the girls’ amah.
From "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
