babe

See also:Babe,babë,babę,andBa Bể

English

Etymology

FromMiddle Englishbabe,a variant of earlierbaban,perhaps fromOld English*baba(“boy, child”),fromProto-West Germanic*babō,fromProto-Germanic*babô,reduplicated variant of*ba-,*bō-(“father, brother, close male relation”).

cognates and related terms

Related toOld Frisianbobba(“child”)(whenceNorth Frisianbabbe,babb,babe(“child”)),Old High GermanBabo(a male forename),seeboy.Otherwise, origin obscure. Comparemama,dada,papa.Welshbaban(“baby”),believed by Skeat to be a mutation ofmaban,a diminutive ofmab(“son”),is probably rather a borrowing from English.Cognate also with Englishbub.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/beɪb/,enPR:bāb

• Audio(US):

  (file)

• Rhymes:-eɪb

Noun

babe(pluralbabes)

1. (literaryorpoetic)Ababyorinfant;a very young human or animal.[from 14th c.]

   These events came to pass when he was but ababe.

   • 1874,James Thomson,The City of Dreadful Night:

     Though he possess sweetbabesand loving wife,
     A home of peace by loyal friendships cheered,
     And love them more than death or happy life,

2. (slang)Anattractiveperson, especially a young woman.[from 20th c.]

   She's a realbabe!

   • 2002,Charles Hebbert, Dan Richardson,The Rough Guide to Budapest,2nd edition, London: Rough Guides,→ISBN,page73:

     During the 1980s, its vivid streetlife became a symbol of the “consumer socialism” that distinguished Hungary from other Eastern Bloc states, but Budapesters today are rather less enamoured of Váci: dressed-to-killbabesand their sugar daddies would rather pose in malls, and teenagers can findMcDonald'sanywhere, leaving Váci utterly dependent on tourists for its livelihood and bustle.

3. (endearing)Darling(term of endearment).

   Hey,babe,how's about you and me getting together?

   • 1916March 11, Charles E. Van Loan, “His Folks”, inSaturday Evening Post‎^[1]:

     But,Babe,you don't have to meet 'em if you don't want to.

Synonyms

• (infant):baby,child,infant
• (attractive person):looker;SeeThesaurus:beautiful person
  • (woman):hottie,doll,fox;See:Thesaurus:beautiful woman
• (darling):darling,dear,love,sweetheart

Derived terms

• babealicious
• babehood
• babe-in-a-cradle
• babe in arms
• babe in the wood
• babe in the woods
• babeish
• babelet
• babelike
• babe magnet
• babeship
• babish
• bikini babe
• Blair's babes
• booth babe
• Busby Babe
• Cumberbabe
• cyberbabe
• grandbabe
• hog-babe
• innocent as a newborn babe
• innocent as the babe unborn
• out of the mouths of babes
• out of the mouths of babes
• out of the mouths of babes and sucklings
• pit babe
• scare-babe
• spokesbabe
• superbabe

Translations

baby or infant—seebaby

attractive person

• Dutch:stuk(nl)n
• Finnish:typykkä(fi)
• German:Puppe(de)f(female person),Maus(de)f
• Irish:bean bhreá,spéirbheanf,áillef,fear breá,staicf
• Portuguese:gata(pt)f(informal)
• Russian:мила́шка(ru)f(miláška),красо́тка(ru)f(krasótka)

darling—seebaby

Anagrams

• abbe,abbé

Galician

Verb

babe

1. inflection ofbabar:
   1. first/third-personsingularpresentsubjunctive
   2. third-personsingularimperative

Middle English

Alternative forms

• bab,babbe
• (early)baban

Etymology

FromOld English*baba.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/ˈbaːb(ə)/,/ˈbab(ə)/

Noun

babe(pluralbabes)

1. baby,infant

Derived terms

• baby

Descendants

• English:babe,bab
• →Irish:báb
• →Welsh:baban

References

• “bābe,n.”,inMED Online,Ann Arbor, Mich.:University of Michigan,2007.

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil)IPA^(key):/ˈba.bi/

• (Brazil)IPA^(key):/ˈba.bi/
  • (Southern Brazil)IPA^(key):/ˈba.be/

• (Portugal)IPA^(key):/ˈba.bɨ/[ˈba.βɨ]

• Rhymes:(Brazil)-abi,(Portugal)-abɨ
• Hyphenation:ba‧be

Verb

babe

1. inflection ofbabar:
   1. first/third-personsingularpresentsubjunctive
   2. third-personsingularimperative

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):[ˈba.be]

Noun

babefpl

1. pluralofbabă

Serbo-Croatian

Noun

babe(Cyrillic spellingбабе)

1. inflection ofbaba:
   1. genitivesingular
   2. nominative/accusative/vocativeplural

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):[ˈbabe]

Noun

babe

1. dative/locativesingularofbaba

Swazi

Etymology

FromProto-Bantu*bààbá.

Noun

babéclass1a(pluralbóbabéclass2a)

1. myfather

Inflection

This noun needs aninflection-table template.