More on the
Tagalog word "ate": (pronounce Ah-teh).
Ate is derived from the word "ah-tsi," which means elder (or eldest) sister in Hokkien. Hokkien is a dialect spoken in the Fujian province in southern China, from which most of the ancestors of the Philippines' native Chinese population comes from.
In a few places, the words "ditse," "sanse," and "sitse" are still used to refer to the second oldest sister, thrid sister, and fourth sister, respectively. These also derive from Hokkien.