ayah
/ˈaɪ.ə/
ayah noun: a South Asian female servant, maid or nanny, historically, often one working for Europeans in South Asia.
Noun (1)
ayah (plural ayahs)
- A South Asian female servant, maid or nanny, historically, often one working for Europeans in South Asia.
- She manufactured the Station scandal, and talked to her ayah.1888, Rudyard Kipling, “Watches of the Night”, in Plain Tales from the Hills (fiction)
- […] 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.1989, Shashi Tharoor, The Great Indian Novel, New York: Arcade Publishing, published 2011, Book 4
Noun (2)
IPA/ˈaɪ.(j)ɑː/
ayah meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
ayah in Hindi
- a South Asian maid or nanny
- आया āyā
- a verse in the Qur'an
- आयत āyat
ayah in Tamil
- a South Asian maid or nanny
- ஆயா āyā
ayah in Urdu
- a South Asian maid or nanny
- آیا āyā
- a verse in the Qur'an
- آیت āyat
ayah in Bengali
- a verse in the Qur'an
- আয়াত aẏat
More languagesFewer languages
- ayah in Telugu
- ఆయా āyā
- ayah in Gujarati
- આયત āyat
- ayah in Pashto
- آيات âyât
- ayah in Arabic
- آيَة ʔāya
- ayah in Malay
- ayat
- ayah in Indonesian
- ayat
- ayah in Persian
- آیه âye
- ayah in Myanmar
- အာယသ် ayas
Forms of ayah
| plural | ayahs |
|---|---|
| plural | ayat |
| alternative form | ayat |
Origin of ayah
From various Indian languages (e.g. Hindi आया (āyā, “dry nurse, nanny”)), from Portuguese aia (“nurse, governess”), from Latin avia (“grandmother”).
Borrowed from Arabic آيَة (ʔāya, “sign, token”).
Questions about ayah
- What does ayah mean?
- Ayah means a South Asian female servant, maid or nanny, historically, often one working for Europeans in South Asia.
- What is ayah in Hindi?
- Ayah in Hindi is आया (āyā), आयत (āyat). See Ayah meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is ayah?
- Ayah is a noun.
- How do you pronounce ayah?
- Ayah is pronounced /ˈaɪ.ə/.
- What is the plural of ayah?
- The plural of ayah is ayahs.
Words near ayah in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ayah (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-ayah.wav.
Cite this entry: “ayah.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ayah. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.