बाबू

See also: बाबु and बाबा

Hindi

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-New Indo-Aryan *बाब्ब (bābba) + Middle Indo-Aryan -𑀉𑀓- (-uka-), imitative of baby talk.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Hindi) IPA^(key): /bɑː.buː/, [bäː.buː]
• Rhymes: -uː

Noun

बाबू • (bābū) m (Urdu spelling بابو)

1. papa, father
2. clerk

   सरकारी बाबू ― sarkārī bābū ― governmental clerk

3. (polite, to elders) sir, mister
4. Term of address for a little boy or one's son.

Declension

Declension of बाबू (masc ū-stem)

	singular	plural
direct	बाबू bābū	बाबू bābū
oblique	बाबू bābū	बाबुओं bābuõ
vocative	बाबू bābū	बाबुओ bābuo

Descendants

• → English: babu, baboo (archaic)
• → Jarawa: babu (“(government) official”)

References

• Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985), “bāppa”, in A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press