Link Centre Dictionary

ayah

UK/ˈaɪ.(j)ɑː/ US/ˈaɪ.ə/ uncommon

noun

1.

an Indian nursemaid who looks after children

Origin

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

Related words

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.