baby

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Contents

[edit] English

A human baby.
A baby monkey.
A baby elephant (sometimes called a calf).

[edit] Etymology

From Middle English babee, babi (“baby”), from babe (“babe, baby”), equivalent to babe +‎ -y/-ie (“endearing and diminutive suffix”).

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Noun

baby (plural babies)

  1. A very young human, particularly from birth to a couple of years old or until walking is fully mastered.
  2. Any very young animal, especially a vertebrate; many species have specific names for their babies, such as kittens for the babies of cats, puppies for the babies of dogs, and chicks for the babies of birds. See Category:Baby animals for more.
  3. A person who is immature or infantile.
    Stand up for yourself - don't be such a baby!
  4. A term of endearment for a girlfriend or boyfriend or spouse.
  5. (informal) A form of address to a man or a woman considered to be attractive.
    Hey baby, what are you doing later?
  6. A pet project or responsibility.
    The annual report has been my baby since September.
  7. The lastborn of a family; a benjamin.

[edit] Synonyms

[edit] Translations

young human being
young animal
immature or infantile person
term of endearment
form of address to a man or a woman considered to be attractive
pet project
lastborn of a family
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

[edit] Adjective

baby (not comparable) (used only before the noun)

  1. Of a child: very young; of the age when he or she would be termed a baby or infant.
    a baby boy
  2. Of an animal: young.
    a baby elephant
  3. Intended for babies.
    baby clothes
  4. (of vegetables, etc.) Picked when small and immature (as in baby corn, baby potatoes).

[edit] Usage notes

When refering to a human baby (as per noun sense 1 above) the usual practice is to treat 'human' as the adjective and 'baby' as the noun.

[edit] Synonyms

  • (very young, of a child): little
  • (intended for babies): baby's

[edit] Translations

of a child
of an animal
  • Finnish: -vauva (in compounds), vauva- (in compounds)
  • French: petit (additionally, as in English, the young of some animals have special names)
intended for babies

[edit] Verb

baby (third-person singular simple present babies, present participle babying, simple past and past participle babied)

  1. To coddle.

[edit] Derived terms

Look at pages starting with baby.

terms derived from "baby"

[edit] Related terms

[edit] See also

[edit] Anagrams

[edit] Dutch

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Noun

baby m. (plural baby's, diminutive baby'tje)

  1. baby (infant)

[edit] Finnish

[edit] Pronunciation

  • Hyphenation: ba‧by

[edit] Noun

baby

  1. baby

[edit] Declension

Declension of baby (type valo)
singular plural
nominative baby babyt
genitive babyn babyjen
partitive babya babyja
accusative baby
babyn		 babyt
inessive babyssa babyissa
elative babysta babyista
illative babyyn babyihin
adessive babylla babyilla
ablative babylta babyilta
allative babylle babyille
essive babyna babyina
translative babyksi babyiksi
instructive – babyin
abessive babytta babyitta
comitative – babyineen

[edit] Synonyms

[edit] French

[edit] Etymology

From English

[edit] Noun

baby m. (plural babys)

  1. table soccer, table football
  2. baby, darling, sweetheart
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