babe

English

Etymology

From Middle English babe, perhaps a variant of earlier baban or representing Old English *baba (“boy, child”), from Proto-Germanic *babô, reduplicated variant of *ba-, *bō- (“father, brother, close male relation”), related to Old Frisian bobba (“child”), Swedish dialectal babbe (“little boy”), Old High German Babo (a male forename), see boy. Otherwise, origin obscure. Compare mama, dada, papa. Welsh baban (“baby”), believed by Skeat to be a mutated from maban diminutive of mab ("son"), is probably rather a borrowing from the English.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /beɪb/, enPR: bāb, X-SAMPA: [beIb]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

  Rhymes: -eɪb

Noun

babe (plural babes)

1. (literary or poetic) A baby or infant; a very young human or animal.

   These events came to pass when he was but a babe.

2. (slang) An attractive person, especially a young woman.

   She's a real babe!

3. (also babes sg) Darling (term of endearment).

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

Quotations

• For usage examples of this term, see the citations page.

Synonyms

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

Translations

baby or infant — see baby

attractive person

• Dutch: stuk (nl) f

• Finnish: typykkä (fi)

darling

• Arabic: عزيزي (ar)
• Dutch: schatje (nl) f, liefje (nl) f
• French: chérie (fr) f

• Malay: sayang (ms)
• Scottish Gaelic: leannan m, gràdh m, gaol m, rùn m, rùnag f, a mhìlseachd f

Derived terms

• bikini babe
• babe magnet
• out of the mouths of babes

Related terms

• baby

See also

• infant

Anagrams

• abbe, abbé

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Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA: [ˈba.be]

Noun

babe f pl

1. Plural form of babă

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Portuguese

Verb

babe

1. first-person singular present subjunctive of babar
2. third-person singular present subjunctive of babar
3. third-person singular imperative of babar