baa

See also baaʼ, and bää

English

Etymology

Compare German bäen; an imitative word.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: [bɑ:]
• (US) IPA: [bæ], [bɑ:]
• IPA: [bæ̰ː], [bæ̰ˀæ̰ˀæ̰ˀæ̰ˀ]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

  Rhymes: -ɑː

  Homophones: bah, bar (in some pronunciations)

These aren't pronounced differently according to part-of-speech, they are different depending on speaker and context. In almost all cases, the form baa baa or baa-baa is used.

Noun

baa (plural baas)

1. (onomatopoeia) The characteristic cry or bleating of a sheep.

Synonyms

• bleat
• bleating

Translations

bleating of sheep

Chinese: 發咩聲, 发咩声 (fā miē shēng) Finnish: mää (fi) French: bêlement (fr) m. Greek: βέλασμα (velazma) n. Icelandic: jarm (is) n. Italian: belato (it) m. Japanese: 羊の鳴き声

Macedonian: блеење n. Norwegian: bæ (no) n. Polish: beczenie Russian: блеяние (ru) (bléjanije) n. Serbian: блејања (sr) (blejanje) n. Turkish: me (tr), meleme (tr)

Interjection

baa

1. (onomatopoeia, humorous) The characteristic cry of a sheep.

Translations

cry of sheep

Danish: mæh (da), mæ (da) Faroese: mæ (fo) German: mäh (de) Greek: μπε (be) Icelandic: mee (is) Japanese: メー(mee)

Latin: bee (la) Norwegian: bæ (no) Polish: bee (pl) Russian: бэ-бэ (be-be) Scottish Gaelic: mè (gd) Serbian: бе (sr) (be) Swedish: bä (sv) Turkish: me (tr)

Verb

baa (third-person singular simple present baas, present participle baaing, simple past and past participle baaed)

1. Of a sheep, to make its characteristic cry.

   He treble baas for help, but none can get. - Sir Philip Sidney

Translations

cry of sheep

Dutch: blaten (nl) Finnish: määkiä (fi) French: bêler (fr) German: blöken (de), mähen (de) Greek: βελάζω (el) (velazo) Icelandic: jarma (is) Italian: belare (it) Japanese: （羊が）鳴く

Norwegian: breke (no) Polish: beczeć Russian: блеять (bléjat’) Serbian: блејати (sr) (blejati) Slovene: blejati Swedish: bräka (sv) Turkish: melemek (tr)

Anagrams

• aba, ABA

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Manx

Noun

baa f.

1. genitive singular form of booa

Mutation

Manx mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
baa	vaa	maa
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

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Navajo

Postposition

baa

1. about him/her/it/them
2. to him/her/it/them
3. into him/her/it/them

   baa níʼą́ — I gave it to him

Usage notes

In pronunciation, the postposition baa is assimilated by an initial yi- of a following verb to make beei-: baa yishdloh = /beeishdloh/ (I am laughing at him). This does not affect the spelling, however.