ayah

[ah-yuh]

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noun

(in India) a native maid or nurse.

Origin of ayah

1775–85; < Hindi āyā < Portuguese aia maidservant < Latin avia grandmother, equivalent to av(us) grandfather + -ia feminine suffix

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for ayah

governess, baby-sitter

Examples from the Web for ayah

Contemporary Examples of ayah

Ayah Abu Basheer is a lecturer at the Islamic University in Gaza City.
Still Not Rebuilt From Last Time
Anna Lekas Miller
November 17, 2012

Historical Examples of ayah

They had been happy, Ayah said, with the kind lady and her children.
Jan and Her Job
L. Allen Harker
Ayah might not be exactly beautiful, but she was harmonious.
Jan and Her Job
L. Allen Harker
Ayah and little Fay were in the nursery across the passage, where there was a fire.
Jan and Her Job
L. Allen Harker
Since the night of Ayah's departure there had not been such a scene.
Jan and Her Job
L. Allen Harker
To the right you may observe an Ayah spoiling some young Britons.
From Edinburgh to India & Burmah
William G. Burn Murdoch

British Dictionary definitions for ayah

ayah

noun

(in the East, Africa, and other parts of the former British Empire) a maidservant, nursemaid, or governess, esp one of Indian or Malay originCompare amah

Word Origin for ayah

C18: from Hindi āyā, from Portuguese aia, from Latin avia grandmother

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

Word Origin and History for ayah

"native nurse, children's governess," Anglo-Indian, 1782, from Portuguese aia, cognate with Spanish aya, Italian aja, etc., "nurse," from Latin avia "grandmother," fem. of avus "grandfather" (see uncle).