ayah

Etymology 1

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

noun

1. 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

Etymology 2

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

noun

1. (Islam) A verse in the Quran.