ayah

From various Indian languages (e.g. Hindi आया (āyā, “dry nurse, nanny”)), from Portuguese aia (“nurse, governess”), from Latin avia (“grandmother”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈaɪ.ə/, /ˈɑːjə/

ayah (plural ayahs)

1. A South Asian female servant, maid or nanny, historically, often one working for Europeans in South Asia.
   • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, “Watches of the Night”, in Plain Tales from the Hills (fiction):

     She manufactured the Station scandal, and talked to her ayah.

   • 1989, Shashi Tharoor, The Great Indian Novel‎^[3], New York: Arcade Publishing, published 2011, Book 4:

     […] a cot of iron had to be manufactured for [Bhim] after he had demolished two wooden cribs with a lusty kick of his foot; and a succession of bruised ayahs had finally to be replaced by a male attendant, a former Hastinapur all-in wrestling champion.

• amah

Borrowed from Arabic آيَة (ʔāya, “sign, token”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈaɪ.(j)ɑː/, /ˈaɪ.ə/

ayah (plural ayahs or ayat)

1. (Islam) A verse in the Quran.

   Synonym: ayat

• ayat

• Ayah in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
• Āyah on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• ayah (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• Haya, haya

From Malay ayah (“father”), from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *aya₂ (“father’s sister, father’s sister’s husband”), from Proto-Austronesian *aya₂.^[1][2]

• IPA^(key): /a.jah/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: a‧yah

ayah

1. (formal) father (male parent)

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:ayah

• bung

• “ayah” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.
• Blust, Robert; Trussel, Stephen; et al. (2023) “*aya₂”, in the CLDF dataset from The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (2010–), →DOI

• IPA^(key): [a.jah]

  • Audio:

    (file)

• Rhymes: -jah, -ah
• Hyphenation: a‧yah

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *aya (“father’s sister, father’s sister’s husband”), from Proto-Austronesian *aya.^[1]

ayah (Jawi spelling ايه, plural ayah-ayah)

1. (formal, polite) A father (male parent).

   Synonyms: abah, bapa, rama

   ayah Daniel ― Daniel's father

• Indonesian: ayah
• Peranakan Indonesian: ajah

Borrowed from Hindi आया (āyā), from Portuguese aia.

ayah (Jawi spelling ايه, plural ayah-ayah)

1. (dated) A nursemaid, usually one of Indian ancestry.

• amah

• pengasuh (“caretaker”)
• pembantu rumah (“domestic worker”)

• "ayah" in Kamus Dewan, Fourth Edition, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, →ISBN, 2005.
• “ayah” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.