As Ⲁⲡⲁ (Apa) is the Coptic word used by a child for its biological father and was adopted to call a spiritual father too, so is Ⲁⲙⲁ (Ama) is the Coptic word used by a child for its biological mother, and was used, in Coptic for nuns.
But in our modern age, being somehow disconnected from our heritage or inflicted with cultural amnesia, we call now our nuns, ‘Tasoani’ (Ⲧⲁⲥⲱⲛⲓ), a word which means, ‘Our Sister’. It lacks the intimacy and closeness, and the spiritual sonship or daughtership, as one finds in ‘Ama’.
It would be nice to call our nuns simply, ‘Ama’, rather than ‘Tasoani’.