baa

See also: BAA, baaʼ, bää, and bąą

Translingual

Symbol

baa

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Babatana.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Babatana terms

English

Etymology 1

Compare German bäh, mäh; an imitative word.

Notes on phonological development

The pronunciation /bɑː/ is perhaps a development from earlier /bæː/ reflecting the shift of /æː/ to /ɑː/ during the 18th and 19th centuries. Compare Early Modern English bae, bea, both "to baa", respectively displaying the then current pronunciation of Middle English /aː/ as /æː/ and the failure of Middle English /ɛː/ to raise, and the replacement of mew with meow for another instance where recent sound change has made onomatopoeia opaque.

Alternative forms

• bah (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): [bɑː]
• (US) IPA^(key): [bæ], [bɑ]
• IPA^(key): [bæ̰ː], [bæ̰ˀæ̰ˀæ̰ˀæ̰ˀ]

• Audio (Received Pronunciation):

  (file)

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː, -æ
• Homophones: bah, bar (in some pronunciations)

Audio of a bleating sheep, the animal sound that "baa" is based on.

Noun

baa (plural baas)

1. (onomatopoeia) The characteristic cry or bleating of a sheep.

Synonyms

• bleat
• bleating

Derived terms

• baa-lamb

Translations

bleating of sheep

• Arabic: مَأْمَأَة (ar) f (maʔmaʔa)
• Catalan: bel (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 發咩聲 / 发咩声 (fā miē sheng)

• Czech: bečení n
• Dutch: bè (nl)
• Faroese: jarm n
• Finnish: mää (fi)
• French: bêlement (fr) m
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Blöken (de) n
• Greek: βέλασμα (el) n (vélasma)
• Hawaiian: heʻehe, māʻāʻā
• Icelandic: jarm (is) n
• Italian: belato (it) m, bè
• Japanese: 羊の鳴き声 (ひつじのなきごえ, hitsuji no nakigoe)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: باعە (ba'e)

• Macedonian: блеење n (bleenje)
• Maori: please add this translation if you can
• Navajo: meeʼ
• Norwegian: bæ (no) n
• Polish: bek (pl) m
• Portuguese: balido (pt) m
• Russian: бле́яние (ru) n (bléjanije)
• Serbo-Croatian: блејање n, blejanje n
• Spanish: balido (es) m, be (es)
• Swedish: bä (sv) (interjection), bräkande (sv) n
• Turkish: me (tr), meleme (tr)
• Vietnamese: be be (vi)

Interjection

baa

1. (onomatopoeia) The characteristic cry of a sheep.

Translations

cry of sheep

• Afrikaans: bê
• Catalan: be (ca), bee (ca), mè (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 咩 (zh) (miē)

• Czech: bé (cs)
• Danish: mæh (da), mæ
• Esperanto: be (eo)
• Faroese: mæ
• Finnish: bää, mää (fi)
• French: bè (fr), bê (fr)
• German: bäh (de), mäh (de)
• Greek: μπε (el) (be)

  Ancient: βῆ (bê)

• Hawaiian: heʻehe
• Hungarian: bee (hu)
• Icelandic: mee
• Italian: beè (it)
• Japanese: メー (mē)
• Latin: bee
• Maori: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian: bæ (no)
• Polish: be (pl)
• Portuguese: bé (pt)
• Russian: бэ-бэ (bɛ-bɛ), ме (ru) (me), бе (ru) (be)
• Scottish Gaelic: mè
• Serbo-Croatian: бе, 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.
   • a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC:

     He treble baas for help, but none can get.

   • 1902, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Bush Studies (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, page 44:

     The lamb bunted several irresponsive objects - never its dam's udder - baaing listlessly.

Translations

to make the cry of sheep

• Catalan: belar (ca)
• Czech: bečet (cs), mečet (cs)
• Danish: bræge
• Dutch: blaten (nl)
• Esperanto: bei
• Faroese: jarma
• Finnish: määkiä (fi)
• French: bêler (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: blöken (de), bähen (de), mähen (de)
• Greek: βελάζω (el) (velázo)
• Hungarian: béget (hu)
• Icelandic: jarma (is)
• Italian: belare (it)
• Japanese: （羊が）鳴く (ひつじがなく, hitsuji ga naku)
• Latin: bālō
• Norwegian: breke
• Old English: blǣtan
• Polish: beczeć (pl)
• Portuguese: balir (pt), balar (pt)
• Russian: бле́ять (ru) (bléjatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: блејати, blejati (sh)
• Slovak: bečať impf
• Slovene: blejati
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: bjacaś impf

• Spanish: balar (es)
• Swedish: bräka (sv)
• Turkish: melemek (tr)

Etymology 2

From Arabic بَاء (bāʔ).

Noun

baa (plural baas)

1. The letter ب in the Arabic script.

Anagrams

• A.B.A., AAB, ABA, Aba, aba

Afar

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaː/ [ˈbaː]
• Hyphenation: baa

Noun

báa m 

1. Apocopic form of babba

References

• Mohamed Hassan Kamil (2015) L’afar: description grammaticale d’une langue couchitique (Djibouti, Erythrée et Ethiopie)‎^[1], Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis), page 143

Bongo

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bꜜáà/

Noun

baa

1. river, sea

References

• Moi, Daniel Rabbi and Mario Lau Babur Kuduku, Sister Mary Mangira Michael, Simon Hagimir John, Rapheal Zakenia Paul Mafoi, Nyoul Gulluma Kuduku. 2018. Bongo – English Dictionary. Juba, South Sudan. SIL-South Sudan.

Dagbani

Noun

baa (plural bahi)

1. dog

See also

• bakɔha
• baluli
• bawahiriga
• batɔha
• zɔbaa

Gamilaraay

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baː/

Noun

baa

1. hip

References

• Gamilaraay Yuwaalaraay Yuwaalayaay Dictionary 2003

Libon Bikol

Etymology

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *bahaq, from Proto-Austronesian *baSaq.

Noun

bahâ

1. flood

Mansaka

Etymology

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *bahaq.

Verb

baa

1. to flood

Manx

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɛː/

Noun

baa f

1. plural/genitive singular of booa

Mutation

Mutation of baa

radical	lenition	eclipsis
baa	vaa	maa

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Manx.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Moore

Adverb

baa

1. even

Navajo

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɑ̀ː/

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

Forms of baa

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

Shoshone

Alternative forms

• paa

Noun

baa

1. (Eastern Shoshone) water

References

• Eastern Shoshone Working Dictionary

Swahili

Pronunciation

• Audio (Kenya):

  (file)

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Arabic بِغَاء (biḡāʔ).

Noun

baa class V (plural mabaa class VI)

1. evil, plague
2. danger, misfortune

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English bar.

Noun

baa class IX (plural baa class X)

1. a bar (social pub for alcoholic drinks)

Wolio

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɓaː/

Noun

baa

1. head

References

• Anceaux, Johannes C. (1987) Wolio Dictionary (Wolio-English-Indonesian) / Kamus Bahasa Wolio (Wolio-Inggeris-Indonesia), Dordrecht: Foris