baa

See also baaʼ, bąą, bää, and BAA

English

Etymology

Compare German bäen; an imitative word.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: [bɑː]
• (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

• Catalan: bel (ca) m
• Chinese: 發咩聲, 发咩声 (fā miē shēng)
• Finnish: mää (fi)
• French: bêlement (fr) m
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• 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
• Serbo-Croatian: блејање (sh) (blejanje) n
• Spanish: balido (es) m, be (es)
• Swedish: bä (sv) (interjection), bräkande (sv) 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)
• Italian: beè (it)
• Japanese: メー(mee)
• Latin: bee (la)

• Norwegian: bæ (no)
• Polish: bee (pl)
• Russian: бэ-бэ (be-be)
• Scottish Gaelic: mè (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian: бе (sh) (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. To make the characteristic cry of a sheep.

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

Translations

to make the cry of sheep

• Catalan: belar (ca)
• Czech: bečet (cs), mečet (cs)
• Dutch: blaten (nl)
• Finnish: määkiä (fi)
• French: bêler (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: blöken (de), mähen (de)
• Greek: βελάζω (el) (velazo)
• Icelandic: jarma (is)
• Italian: belare (it)

• Japanese: （羊が）鳴く
• Latin: balo (la)
• Norwegian: breke (no)
• Polish: beczeć
• Russian: блеять (bléjat’)
• Serbo-Croatian: блејати (sh) (blejati)
• Slovene: blejati
• Spanish: balar (es)
• 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.

Inflection

Navajo postpositions

	singular	duoplural
1st person	shaa	nihaa
2nd person	naa	nihaa
3rd person	baa
4th person (3o)	yaa
4th person (3a)	haa
4th person (3i)	ʼaa	—
reflexive	ádaa	—
reciprocal	—	ahaa