ama

See also: Appendix:Variations of "ama"

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Page categories

Translingual

Etymology

Clipping of English Amanayé.

Symbol

ama

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Amanayé.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Amanayé terms

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɑː.mə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (Singapore English) IPA^(key): /ˈɑː.mɑ/
• Rhymes: (Received Pronunciation, General American) -ɑːmə

Etymology 1

English Wikipedia has an article on:

ama

Wikipedia

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

Noun

ama (plural amas)

1. Alternative spelling of amah.
   • 1910, Mary F. Roulet, The Spaniard at Home, page 14:

     Not only does the baby have a jewel then, or some handsome gift, but his ama (nurse) is remembered with a bright gold doubloon (sixteen dollars).

   • 2007, Ondina E. González, Bianca Premo, Raising an Empire, page 143:

     Again as with Juan, shortly after the religious rite the children would be transferred to the care of wet nurses, or amas, who would take them into their individual homes.

   • 2013, Maria Aurora Couto, Filomena's Journey:

     It was rumoured that she had been his ama, the wet nurse who then became part of the family, taking charge so effectively that she ruled the household.

Translations

amah — see amah

Etymology 2

From Japanese あま.

Noun

ama (plural amas)

1. A traditional Japanese pearl diver, usually female, who mainly dives for seafood, typically without any tool for breathing.

Etymology 3

From Polynesian.

Noun

ama (plural amas)

1. (nautical) The float on the outrigger of a proa or trimaran.

Translations

float

Maori: kōrewa

Etymology 4

From Sanskrit अम (ama, “disease”).

Noun

ama (countable and uncountable, plural amas)

1. (Ayurveda) A toxic byproduct of improper or incomplete digestion.

Etymology 5

Unknown.

Noun

ama (plural amas)

1. Fabric made from the hair of a camel or goat.

Translations

fabric

Etymology 6

From Hokkien 阿媽 / 阿妈 (a-má, “paternal grandmother”). See also Hokkien 俺媽 / 俺妈 (án-má), Portuguese Templo de A-Má.

Alternative forms

• amah, ahma, amma

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʔɐˈma/

Noun

ama (plural amas)

1. (Philippines, Chinese Filipino, colloquial) paternal grandmother; paternal grandma
   • 2012, Andrew Drilon, “Two Women Worth Watching”, in Charles Tan, editor, Lauriat: A Filipino-Chinese Speculative Fiction Anthology‎, Maple Shade, New Jersey: Lethe Press, Inc., page 8:

     "Perhaps," her grandmother had said. She was nearing death at that point, Mia's ama. Her body was wracked with arthritis, rheumatism, Parkinson's, osteoporosis and more. The maids said she was crazy with pain, and perhaps too far gone to even think properly.

2. (Philippines, Chinese Filipino, colloquial) term of address for one's paternal grandmother
   • 2017, Ari C. Dy, “Introduction”, in Chinese Buddhism in Catholic Philippines: Syncretism as Identity‎, Anvil Publishing, Inc.:

     There would always be some food offerrings there, and every morning, Amma would burn some incense. More elaborate offerings were made on the anniversaries of his birth and death, and the Chinese festivals for the dead such as Qingming in April and the Hungry Ghosts on the seventh lunar month.

Coordinate terms

• (paternal male): angkong
• (maternal female): guama
• (maternal male): guakong

Etymology 7

Initialism.

Prepositional phrase

ama

1. Alternative form of AMA (“against medical advice”).

Anagrams

• AAM, aam, maa

Abau

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ama/

Interjection

ama

1. address term for multiple males or a group listen, men! hey guys!

References

SIL International (2020), “Abau Dictionary”, in Webonary.org‎

Afar

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈma/ [ʔʌˈmʌ]
• Hyphenation: a‧ma

Determiner

amá

1. this, that, these, those (masculine; near the spoken to)

See also

Afar demonstrative determiners

	masculine	feminine
proximal	á	tá
medial	amá	tamá
distal	wóo	tóo
very distal	wótti

References

• E. M. Parker; R. J. Hayward (1985), “ama”, in An Afar-English-French dictionary (with Grammatical Notes in English), University of London, →ISBN
• Mohamed Hassan Kamil (2015), L’afar: description grammaticale d’une langue couchitique (Djibouti, Erythrée et Ethiopie)‎, Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis)

Aklanon

Etymology

From Proto-Austronesian *ama-h.

Noun

ama

1. father