baba

See also Appendix:Variations of "baba"

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

As one of the first utterances many babies are able to say, baba (like mama, papa, and dada) has come to be used in many languages as a term for various family members:

• father: Arabic, Chinese, Greek, Marathi, Hindi, Bengali, Persian, Swahili, Turkish, Yoruba
• grandmother: many Slavic language (such as Bulgarian, Russian and Polish), Yiddish, Japanese
• baby: Afrikaans, Sinhala

These terms often continue to be used by English speakers whose families came from one of these cultures. In some cases, they may become more widely used in localities that have been heavily influenced by an immigrant community. Some senses were extensions of one of these family terms in the original languages ("old woman" from "grandmother", "holy man" from "father"). The "cake" sense comes through French, from Polish baba (“old woman”). The Middle Eastern word baba (as in Ali Baba) is rather a term of endearment, and is ultimately derived from Persian بابا (bābā, “father”) (from Old Persian pāpa; as opposed to the Arabic words ابو (’ábu) and أب (’ab), as well as the Turkish word ata; see also Papak) , and is linguistically related to the common European word papa and the word pope, having the same Indo-European origin.

Noun

baba (plural babas)

1. A kind of sponge cake soaked in rum-flavoured syrup.
2. (esp. among people of East European ancestry) A grandmother.
   • 1993, Karen Dubinsky, Improper Advances: Rape and Heterosexual Conflict in Ontario, 1880-1929, University of Chicago Press

     My baba, Ksenia Dubinsky, tells me that my education makes her proud.

   • 2001, Brattleboro Remembers, edited by the Brattleboro [Vermont] Historical Society, Arcadia Publishing

     I walked first for my grandmother, and my mother was sorry she had missed my first steps. My Baba was so proud, my mother later told me.

   • 2004, A Woman's Europe: True Stories, edited by MaryBeth Bond

     As we made eye contact, I slowly began to wonder if she was Baba. I did not know my grandmother though I'd spoken with her several times on the telephone;

3. An old woman, especially a traditional old woman from an eastern European culture.
   • 1914, Russell Sage Foundation, Wage-earning Pittsburgh

     Only two women, typical "babas" (peasant women) in the house from which I got my quilt and bedcloth, could be coaxed to pose;

   • 1986, Janice Kulyk Keefer, The Paris-Napoli Express

     Laura hadn't known that anyone's mother could look like that, like the babas you sometimes saw downtown, bandaged in kerchiefs and aprons, sitting toothless in stockinged feet on small verandahs, peeling potatoes or beets or just shaking their heads and grimacing.

   • 2003, Food Tourism Around The World: Development, Management and Markets, edited by Colin Michael Hall and Liz Sharples

     According to some, new volunteers are becoming more difficult to recruit and there are dark suggestions that 'money is being made on the backs of the babas', the dedicated, but ageing ladies who still spend countless hours of their time preparing foodstuffs for the occasion.

4. (esp. among people of Indian ancestry) A father.
   • 1849, Edward Bulwer Lytton, The Caxtons

     The first time I signed my exercise I wrote "Pisistratus Caxton" in my best round-hand. "And dey call your baba a scholar!" said the Doctor, contemptuously.

   • 1998, Mulan (movie)

     "The greatest gift and honor is having you for a daughter. I've missed you so." "I've missed you too, baba."

   • 2002, Bend It Like Beckham (movie)

     Okay. Okay. Fine, baba. Let's just do it before something else goes wrong.

   • 2003, House of Sand and Fog (movie)

     "Do not be disrespectful, son. Look at me." "Baba, were you a Savaki?"

5. (Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism) A holy man, a spiritual leader.
   • 1995, Hugh J.M. Johnston and Tara Singh Bains, The Four Quarters of the Night: The Life-Journey of an Emigrant Sikh

     While I was in Port Alberni, three babas came to Canada to raise money ...

   • 2004, Andrew Robinson, Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye: The Biography of a Master Film-Maker

     But according to Ray, 'all the babas my uncle knew were genuine. None of them was exposed. They were fairly humble people, not show-offs like the Maharishi ...

   • 2006, Suraiya Faroqhi, Subjects Of The Sultan: Culture And Daily Life In The Ottoman Empire

     Most babas had little contact with written culture and are not therefore named in books and treatises.

6. (India, dated) A baby, child.
   • 1876, Sir George Otto Trevelyan, The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay

     That is to say, if I do not take care, I shall go on calling my darling 'Baba' till she is as old as her mamma, and has a dozen Babas of her own.

   • 1904, Rudyard Kipling, Traffics and Discoveries

     For my child is dead--my baba is dead!

7. In baby talk, often used for a variety of words beginning with b, such as bottle or blanket.
   • 2004, House (TV, episode 1.14)

     Oh, it's storytime! Let me get my baba.

Related terms

• baba au rhum
• rhumbaba, rum baba
• baba ganoush
• babushka

Translations

5. A holy man, a spiritual leader

• Oriya: ବାବା (or)
• Polish: baba (pl) m

• Telugu: బాబా (te)
• Turkish: baba (tr), peder (tr), pederler (tr) pl, babalar (tr) pl, peder (tr)

Anagrams

• abab
• abba, ABBA

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Afrikaans

Noun

baba (plural babas)

1. baby

Verb

baba (past participle gebaba)

1. to treat with gentle care, to coddle

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Albanian

Etymology

Ottoman Turkish بابا (baba)

Pronunciation

• IPA: [baba] (Tosk)
• IPA: [bɑba] (Gheg)

Noun

baba m (definite singular babi, plural baballarë)

1. father

Synonyms

• atë

Derived terms

• Baba Dimri

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Crimean Tatar

Noun

baba

1. father
2. dad

Declension

    declension of baba

nominative	baba
genitive	babanıñ
dative	babağa
accusative	babanı
locative	babada
ablative	babadan

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Czech

Noun

baba f

1. crone, hag
2. coward, milksop

Related terms

• bába
• babka
• bábi
• babí
• babička
• babizna

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Finnish

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ba‧ba

Noun

baba

1. Baba, babka, a type of cake.

Declension

Declension of baba (type kala) singular plural nominative baba babat genitive baban babojen babain1 partitive babaa baboja accusative baba baban babat inessive babassa baboissa elative babasta baboista illative babaan baboihin adessive baballa baboilla ablative babalta baboilta allative baballe baboille essive babana baboina translative babaksi baboiksi instructive – baboin abessive babatta baboitta comitative – baboineen 1) Rare.

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French

Etymology

From Polish baba, introduced in France in the eighteenth century at the court of Stanisław Leszczyński, king of Poland, duke of Lorraine and father-in-law of Louis XV.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ba.ba/, X-SAMPA: /ba.ba/

Noun

baba m (plural babas)

1. baba (type of cake)
   • baba au rhum

References

• "baba" in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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German

Etymology

A link of the term with the American bye-bye is possible but not certain.

Interjection

baba

1. (informal, chiefly in Austria) see you, so long

Usage notes

• In Austria, especially East Austria, baba is the most commonly used informal term for saying "goodbye".

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Hiligaynon

Noun

bába and bâbâ

1. mouth

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Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈbɒbɒ/
• Hyphenation: ba‧ba

Noun

baba (plural babák)

1. doll
2. baby (very young child)

Declension

declension of baba singular plural nominative baba babák accusative babát babákat dative babának babáknak instrumental babával babákkal causal-final babáért babákért translative babává babákká terminative babáig babákig essive-formal babaként babákként essive-modal - - inessive babában babákban superessive babán babákon adessive babánál babáknál illative babába babákba sublative babára babákra allative babához babákhoz elative babából babákból delative babáról babákról ablative babától babáktól

possessives of baba possessor singular possession plural possession 1st person sing. babám babáim 2nd person sing. babád babáid 3rd person sing. babája babái 1st person plural babánk babáink 2nd person plural babátok babáitok 3rd person plural babájuk babáik

Derived terms

• babakocsi
• kisbaba
• próbababa
• rongybaba

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Japanese

Romanization

baba

1. See ばば

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Malay

Etymology

Voiced bapa.

Pronunciation

• (Johor-Selangor) IPA: /babə/
• (Riau-Lingga) IPA: /baba/
• Rhymes: -abə, -bə, -ə
• Rhymes: -ə

Noun

baba

1. father (male parent)

Synonyms

• bapa (bapanda, bapai, bapak, bapang, papa)
• ayah (ayahanda, aya, yah)
• abah (aba, bah)
• rama

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Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈbaba/

Etymology 1

Noun

baba f

1. old woman, woman (impolite)

Declension

    declension of baba

	singular	plural
nominative	baba	baby
genitive	baby	bab
dative	babie	babom
accusative	babę	baby
instrumental	babą	babami
locative	babie	babach
vocative	babo	baby

Etymology 2

Noun

baba m

1. baba (a holy man, a spiritual leader)

Declension

    declension of baba

	singular	plural
nominative	baba	babowie
genitive	baby	babów
dative	babie	babom
accusative	babę	babów
instrumental	babą	babami
locative	babie	babach
vocative	babo	babowie

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Portuguese

Etymology

From the hypothetical Latin word *baba.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈba.ba/

Noun

baba f (plural babas)

1. drool, dribble

See also

• babar-se

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Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA: [ˈba.ba]

Noun

baba f (singular, nominative/accusative, definite form of babă)

1. the old woman

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Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *baba.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /bâba/
• Hyphenation: ba‧ba

Noun

bȁba f (Cyrillic spelling ба̏ба)

1. grandmother
2. granny, grandma
3. (usually pejorative) old woman
4. (pejorative) female person

Declension

    declension of baba

	singular	plural
nominative	bȁba	babe
genitive	babe	bȃbā
dative	babi	babama
accusative	babu	babe
vocative	babo	babe
locative	babi	babama
instrumental	babom	babama

Synonyms

• báka
• (Bosnian): nena

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Spanish

Etymology

From the hypothetical Latin word *baba.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈbaβa/

Noun

baba f (plural babas)

1. drool, dribble

   La chacha lavaba, y mientras lavaba, la baba se le caía — The maid washed, and as she washed, she drooled. (classroom example of b/v use)

Related terms

• babear
• babero
• baboso
• babosa

See also

• cieno
• lama

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Swahili

Noun

baba

1. father (male parent)

This Swahili entry was created from the translations listed at father. It may be less reliable than other entries, and may be missing parts of speech or additional senses. Please also see baba in the Swahili Wiktionary. This notice will be removed when the entry is checked. (more information) July 2009

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Tagalog

Adverb

baba

1. low

Noun

baba

1. chin

Verb

baba

1. to descend

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Turkish

Pronunciation

• IPA: /bɑˈbɑ/
• Hyphenation: ba‧ba

Noun

baba

1. father
2. Saint (as in Gül Baba)

Declension

declension of baba

	singular (tekil)	plural (çoğul)
nominative (yalın)	baba	babalar
definite accusative (belirtme)	babayı	babaları
dative (yönelme)	babaya	babalara
locative (bulunma)	babada	babalarda
ablative (çıkma)	babadan	babalardan
genitive (tamlayan)	babanın	babaların

possessive forms of baba

nominative	singular	plural
benim (my)	babam	babalarım
senin (your)	baban	babaların
onun (his/her/its)	babası	babaları
bizim (our)	babamız	babalarımız
sizin (your)	babanız	babalarınız
onların (their)	babaları	babaları
accusative	singular	plural
benim (my)	babamı	babalarımı
senin (your)	babanı	babalarını
onun (his/her/its)	babasını	babalarını
bizim (our)	babamızı	babalarımızı
sizin (your)	babanızı	babalarınızı
onların (their)	babalarını	babalarını
dative	singular	plural
benim (my)	babama	babalarıma
senin (your)	babana	babalarına
onun (his/her/its)	babasına	babalarına
bizim (our)	babamıza	babalarımıza
sizin (your)	babanıza	babalarınıza
onların (their)	babalarına	babalarına
locative	singular	plural
benim (in/at/on my)	babamda	babalarımda
senin (in/at/on your)	babanda	babalarında
onun (in/at/on his/her/its)	babasında	babalarında
bizim (in/at/on our)	babamızda	babalarımızda
sizin (in/at/on your)	babanızda	babalarınızda
onların (in/at/on their)	babalarında	babalarında
ablative	singular	plural
benim (from my)	babamdan	babalarımdan
senin (from your)	babandan	babalarından
onun (from his/her/its)	babasından	babalarından
bizim (from our)	babamızdan	babalarımızdan
sizin (from your)	babanızdan	babalarınızdan
onların (from their)	babalarından	babalarından
genitive	singular	plural
benim (of my)	babamın	babalarımın
senin (of your)	babanın	babalarının
onun (of his/her/its)	babasının	babalarının
bizim (of our)	babamızın	babalarımızın
sizin (of your)	babanızın	babalarınızın
onların (of their)	babalarının	babalarının

predicative forms of baba

simple present	singular	plural
ben (I am)	babayım	babalarım*
sen (you are)	babasın	babalarsın*
o (he/she/it is)	baba / babadır	babalar* / babalardır*
biz (we are)	babayız	babalarız
siz (you are)	babasınız	babalarsınız
onlar (they are)	babalar	babalardır
simple past	singular	plural
ben (I was)	babaydım	babalardım*
sen (you were)	babaydın	babalardın*
o (he/she/it was)	babaydı	babalardı*
biz (we were)	babaydık	babalardık
siz (you were)	babaydınız	babalardınız
onlar (they were)	babaydılar	babalardı
indirect / unwitnessed past	singular	plural
ben (I was)	babaymışım	babalarmışım*
sen (you were)	babaymışsın	babalarmışsın*
o (he/she/it was)	babaymış	babalarmış*
biz (we were)	babaymışız	babalarmışız
siz (you were)	babaymışsınız	babalarmışsınız
onlar (they were)	babaymışlar	babalarmış
*Not used, but perhaps rarely - chiefly grammatical formations. Note: Plural forms are not used with adjectives.

Derived terms

Âdem baba ağababa ana baba Arap Baba baba adam baba bucağı baba evi baba hindi baba mirası

baba nasihati baba ocağı Baba Oruç baba tatlısı baba yadigârı baba yurdu babaanne babacan babayiğit

ballıbaba büyük baba dedebaba devlet baba efendibaba Gani Baba Gül Baba Haçkalı Baba iskele babası

kayın baba Mimi Baba Noel baba paşa baba Şam Baba Somuncu Baba üvey baba