English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /'?:.m?/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (Singapore English) IPA^(key): /'?:.m?/

Etymology 1

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

Etymology 2

From Japanese (ama).

Noun

ama (plural amas)

1. A traditional Japanese pearl diver, typically female.

Etymology 3

From Polynesian.

Noun

ama (plural amas)

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

Translations

Etymology 4

From Sanskrit (ama, "disease").

Noun

ama (countable and uncountable, plural amas)

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

Etymology 5

Origin unknown.

Noun

ama (plural amas)

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

Translations

Anagrams

• AAM, aam, maa

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Afar

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?'m?/

Determiner

amá

1. this, that (masculine; proximal to the spoken to)

See also

References

Mohamed Hassan Kamil (2015) L'afar: description grammaticale d'une langue couchitique (Djibouti, Erythrée et Ethiopie)‎^[1], Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis)

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Albanian

Alternative forms

• amo

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish ‎ (ammâ).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): ['ama]

Conjunction

ama

1. but, however

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Alladian

Noun

ama

1. village

References

• Marc Augé, Le rivage alladian: organisation et évolution des villages alladian

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Amis

Noun

ama

1. grandmother

References

• 2017, Dictionary of the Central Dialect of Amis () (in Mandarin Chinese), Taiwan: Council of Indigenous Peoples.

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Asoa

Etymology

Compare Mangbetu àmà.

Pronoun

ama

1. we

Further reading

• Asoa Swadesh List

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Basque

Etymology

Onomatopoetic nursery-word, attested since the 15th century.

Pronunciation

• (standard) IPA^(key): /a.ma/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

ama anim

1. mother
2. origin

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• "ama" in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia, euskaltzaindia.eus
• "ama" in Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia, euskaltzaindia.eus

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Bikol Central

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.'ma?/
• Hyphenation: a?ma

• Audio (BCL)

  (file)

Noun

amâ (feminine ina)

1. father

   Synonyms: papa, tatay, papay

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Bolinao

Noun

ama

1. father

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Catalan

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /'a.m?/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /'a.ma/

Etymology 1

From amma. Compare Spanish and Portuguese ama.

Noun

ama f (plural ames)

1. wet nurse

   Synonym: dida

2. mistress

   Synonym: mestressa

Derived terms

• amo

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

ama

1. third-person singular present indicative form of amar
2. second-person singular imperative form of amar

Further reading

• "ama" in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

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Cebuano

Etymology

From Proto-Austronesian *ama.

Noun

ama

1. (obsolete) a male parent; a father

Synonyms

• (a father): amahan, papa, tatay

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Chayuco Mixtec

Etymology

From Proto-Mixtec *aw?.

Adverb

ama

1. (interrogative) when

Conjunction

ama

1. when

References

• Pensinger, Brenda J. (1974) Diccionario mixteco-español, español-mixteco (Serie de vocabularios y diccionarios indígenas "Mariano Silva y Aceves"; 18)‎^[2] (in Spanish), México, D.F.: El Instituto Lingüístico de Verano en coordinación con la Secretaría de Educación Pública a través de la Dirección General de Educación Extraescolar en el Medio Indígena, pages 3, 86

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Domari

Etymology

Ultimately from Sanskrit (asmé) (locative of ? (vayam, "we")), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *asmáy, from Proto-Indo-European *n?smé. Cognate with Hindi (ham), Urdu ‎ (ham), Punjabi ? (as), Marathi (?mh?), Konkani (?mi), Assamese (ami).

Pronoun

ama (plural eme)

1. I; first-person singular pronoun

References

• Matras, Yaron (2012) A Grammar of Domari (Mouton Grammar Library)‎^[3], Walter de Gruyter, ->ISBN

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Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl

Adverb

ama

1. now

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Esperanto

Etymology

ami +‎ -a

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

ama (accusative singular aman, plural amaj, accusative plural amajn)

1. loving, with love, relating to or characterized by love

   ama rememoro / sento.

   loving memory / feeling of love.

   • (Can we date this quote?), Heinrich August Luyken, Stranga Hereda?o, ?apitro 3,

     Per amaj, kunsentaj vortoj Leonardo sukcesis plie firmigi la konfidon de la junulo [...]

     Through loving, sympathetic words Leonardo managed to strengthen the youth's trust [in him] further.

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Galician

Etymology 1

Verb

ama

1. inflection of amar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Etymology 2

From Old Galician and Old Portuguese ama ("mistress"), from Hispanic Late Latin amma, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *amma- ("mother").^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /'ama?/

Noun

ama f (plural amas)

1. mistress
2. wet nurse
3. housekeeper
   • 1448, X. Ferro Couselo (ed.), A vida e a fala dos devanceiros. Vigo: Galaxia, page 295:

     Iten, Johán Cortido, vesiño da çidade d'Ourense, et sua ama diseron, por lo dito juramento que feito avyan, que omes de Aluaro de Taboa[da] que lle lleuaron e tomaron do seu lugar de Casa Noua sete mantas e hun alfamare e tres sabaas de cama et hun pano de cabeça et quatro toucas et hun sodario et viinte e duas maranas de fiado delgado et seys bincos de prata et huas doas de viinte pares de doas et hun leitón, por que lle dauan dosentos mrs, et seys sacos et dous coitellos de mesa et çen mrs vellos en diñeiros, et tres capilejos et dous vntos, et dous legóos nouos et hun espeto et hua fouçe et hun caldeiro de cobre et hun manto vermello et hua sabaa, e que todo lle tomaran e que a apancaran e que a encheran de couçes

     Item, Xoán Cortido, citizen of the city of Ourense, and his housekeeper, told, under the oath they'd done, that men of Álvaro de Taboada took from them and took in their place of Casa Nova: seven blankets, a quilt, three bedsheets, a cloth for the head, and four shawls and a shroud and twenty two skeins of thin yarn and six silver earrings and twenty pairs of beads and a sucking piglet, for which they would give two hundred maravedis, and six bags and two table knives and a hundred old maravedis in coins, and three coifs and two lards, and two new hoes and a roasting skewer and a sickle and a copper cauldron and a red robe and a sheet, and that all this they took and that they beat her up and filled her with kicks

References

• "ama" in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006-2012.
• "ama" in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006-2016.
• "ama" in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006-2013.
• "ama" in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• "ama" in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

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Garo

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

ama

1. mother

Synonyms

• ma·gipa

References

• Burling, R. (2003) The Language of the Modhupur Mandi (Garo) Vol. II: The Lexicon‎^[4], Bangladesh: University of Michigan, page 375

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Guaraní

Noun

ama

1. rain

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Hoyahoya

Noun

ama

1. man

References

• Philip Carr, Hoyahoya organised phonology data (2006)

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Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): ['?m?]
• Hyphenation: ama
• Rhymes: -m?

Pronoun

ama

1. (archaic) that, as in yon or yonder

See also

• eme

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Icelandic

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -a:ma

Verb

ama (weak verb, third-person singular past indicative amaði, supine amað)

1. to trouble

Conjugation

Derived terms

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Ilocano

Noun

ama

1. father

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Interlingua

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /'a.ma/

Verb

ama

1. present of amar
2. imperative of amar

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Irish

Pronunciation

• (Munster) IPA^(key): ['?m]
• (Connacht, Ulster) IPA^(key): ['am]

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

ama m (genitive singular ama, nominative plural amaí)

1. yoke
2. (in plural) hames

Declension

Etymology 2

Noun

ama m

1. genitive singular of am

Mutation

References

• "ama" in Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.

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Italian

Verb

ama

1. inflection of amare:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

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Japanese

Romanization

ama

1. R?maji transcription of

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Jarai

Etymology

From Proto-Austronesian *ama

Noun

ama (classifier ?ô)

1. father

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Kamayurá

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [a'ma]

Noun

ama

1. mother

References

• Meinke Salzer (1976) , "Fonologia Provisória da Língua Kamayurá", in Série Linguística, volume 5, pages 131-170

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Kankanaey

Noun

ama

1. father

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Laboya

Etymology

From Proto-Austronesian *amax.

Noun

ama

1. father

References

• Rina, A. Dj.; Kabba, John Lado B. (2011) , "ama", in Kamus Bahasa Lamboya, Kabupaten Sumba Bakat [Dictionary of Lamboya Language, West Sumba Regency], Waikabubak: Dinas Kebudayaan dan Pariwisata, Kabupaten Sumba Bakat, page 5
• Laboya in Austronesian Comparative Dictionary

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Ladino

Etymology

From Turkish ama, from Ottoman Turkish ‎ (ammâ), from Arabic ‎ (?amm?).

Conjunction

ama

1. but

   Synonyms: ma, pero

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Latin

Etymology 1

See hama.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /'a.ma/
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /'a.ma/, ['a:.ma]

Noun

ama f (genitive amae); first declension

1. Alternative spelling of hama

Declension

First-declension noun.

References

• ?ma in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• 2. AMA in Charles du Fresne du Cange's Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883-1887)
• 3. AMA in Charles du Fresne du Cange's Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883-1887)
• ?ma in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette, page 108/3
• "ama" on page 112/1 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968-82)
• Niermeyer, Jan Frederik (1976) , "ama", in Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden, Boston: Brill, page 39/1

Etymology 2

A regularly conjugated form of am? ("I love", verb).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /'a.ma:/
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /'a.ma/, ['a:.ma]

Verb

am?

1. second-person singular present active imperative of am?

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Limos Kalinga

Noun

amá

1. father

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Lolopo

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?a³³ma³³]

Noun

ama 

1. (Yao'an) mother, mom

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Lubuagan Kalinga

Noun

ama

1. father

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Matal

Conjunction

ama

1. but

   Dza uwana asal mat?f g?l a?ha, adàzi? ala, ama dza uwana az g?l a?ha ala kà gi, adàl g?l a?ha. (Mata 16:25)^[1]

   For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life on account of me will find it. (Matthew 16:25)

References

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Nias

Noun

ama (mutated form nama)

1. father

   amagu - my father

   amada - our (and also your) father^[1]

References

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Novial

Verb

ama (past amad, active participle amant, passive participle amat)

1. to love

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Nyimang

Noun

ámá

1. human beings, people
2. members of the Nyimang people who speak the Ama dialect

References

• Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere, issues 61-64, page 103: From the accompanying notes, I have these self-names: Nyimang ama-du wada 'ama (people)-of language' and [...]
• Claude Rilly, Alex de Voogt, The Meroitic Language and Writing System (2012), page 80 (in notes)

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Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *amm?n? ("to irritate, bother"). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h?emh?- ("to insist, urge").

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: am?a

Verb

ama

1. to bother
2. to wound

Conjugation

Noun

ama f (genitive ?mu, plural ?mur)

1. a large amount, a ton

References

• ama in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press

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Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Portugal, Brazil) IPA^(key): /'?.m?/
• Hyphenation: a?ma
• Rhymes: -ama

Etymology 1

From Old Portuguese ama, from Medieval Latin amma, itself either from Ancient Greek ? (ámma), of imitative origin, or an alteration of mamma.

Noun

ama f (plural amas)

1. female nurse
2. female housekeeper
3. governess

Derived terms

• ama-de-leite
• ama-seca

Etymology 2

Verb

ama

1. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present indicative of amar
2. second-person singular (tu, sometimes used with você) affirmative imperative of amar

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Quechua

Adverb

ama

1. (imperative) do not, used with -chu

   Ama mikhuychu!

   Don't eat!

See also

• mana

Noun

ama

1. old ruin

Declension

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Rade

Etymology

From Proto-Chamic *?ama, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *t-ama, from Proto-Austronesian *t-ama

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /amaa/, [maa]

Noun

ama

1. father

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Sakizaya

Etymology

From Proto-Austronesian *t-ama.

Noun

ama

1. father

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Scottish Gaelic

Noun

ama m

1. genitive singular of àm

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Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish ‎ (ammâ), in turn from Arabic ‎ (?amm?).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /âma/
• Hyphenation: a?ma

Conjunction

?ma (Cyrillic spelling ?)

1. (regional) but [from 18th c.]

Synonyms

• (but): ali

Interjection

ama (Cyrillic spelling )

1. (regional) Used to express impatience.; ugh, blah

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Sicilian

Verb

ama

1. inflection of amari:
   1. third-person singular present active indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

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Somali

Conjunction

ama

1. or

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Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /'ama/, ['a.ma]

Etymology 1

From Medieval Latin amma, itself either from Ancient Greek [Term?], of imitative origin, or an alteration of mamma.

Noun

ama f (plural amas, masculine amo, masculine plural amos)

1. lady of the house
2. proprietress
3. landlady
4. housekeeper, head maid
5. nursemaid, nanny
6. wetnurse
7. mistress

Usage notes

• The feminine noun ama is like other feminine nouns starting with a stressed a sound in that it takes the definite article el (normally reserved for masculine nouns) in the singular when there is no intervening adjective:

el ama

• However, if an adjective, even one that begins with a stressed a sound such as alta or ancha, intervenes between the article and the noun, the article reverts to la.

Derived terms

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

ama

1. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present indicative form of amar.
2. Informal second-person singular (tú) affirmative imperative form of amar.

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Swahili

Etymology

From Arabic ‎ (?am).

Pronunciation

• Audio (Kenya)

  (file)

Conjunction

ama

1. or

Synonyms

• au

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Tagalog

Etymology

From Proto-Austronesian *ama (compare Fijian tama).

Noun

amá (Baybayin spelling )

1. father

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Thao

Noun

ama

1. father
2. paternal uncle

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Torres Strait Creole

Noun

ama

1. mother
2. maternal aunt; one's mother's sister
3. mother-in-law; one's spouse's mother

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Turkish

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish ‎ (ammâ), from Arabic ‎ (?amm?).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?m?]
• Hyphenation: a?ma

Conjunction

ama

1. but; however

Noun

ama

1. dative singular of am

Synonyms

• amlar? (3)

See also

• amma
• âmâ

Descendants

• -> Ladino: ama

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Tzotzil

Pronunciation

• (Zinacantán) IPA^(key): /'?ämä/

Noun

ama

1. flute

References

• "?ama" in Laughlin, Robert M. (1975) The Great Tzotzil Dictionary of San Lorenzo Zinacantán. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.

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Uri

Noun

ama

1. water

References

• Rachel Gray, Margaret Potter, Thom Retsema, Mungkip: an endangered language, SIL Electronic Survey Reports 35 (2009), page 25

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Yale

Noun

ama

1. dog

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Yami

Etymology

From Proto-Austronesian *ama.

Noun

ama

1. father