Amah (occupation)

Look up 阿媽 in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
A Chinese amah (right) with a woman and her three children
An oil painting depicting Joanna de Silva, an Indian woman, from waist up, looking into the distance. She wears delicate white clothing and has jewellery around her neck and in her hair, and a ring on her finger. An inscription states Joanna de Silva, a native / of Bengal, the faithful / and affectionate Nurse / of the Children of / Lieutenant Colonel Charles Deare / Painted by Will:m Wood 1792
Joanna de Silva
Two ayahs in British India with their charges

An amah (Portuguese: ama, German: Amme, Medieval Latin: amma, simplified Chinese: 阿妈; traditional Chinese: 阿媽; pinyin: ā mā; Wade–Giles: a¹ ma¹) or ayah (Portuguese: aia, Latin: avia, Tagalog: yaya) is a girl or woman employed by a family to clean, look after children, and perform other domestic tasks. Amah is the usual version in East Asia, while ayah relates more to South Asia, and tends to specifically mean a nursemaid looking after young children, rather than a general maid.