An amah (, Portuguese: ama, Medieval Latin: amma ; or ayah Hindi:ÄyÄ, Portuguese:aia, Latin:avia) is a woman employed by a family to clean, look after children, etc. This word is particularly common in East Asia and India (ayah, though, is a more common variant in India). The more "politically correct" term for maid, instead of "amah", in recent years (since about the mid-nineties), is "helper".