baa

See also: BAA, baaʼ, bää, and bąą

English

Etymology 1

Compare German bäh, mäh; an imitative word.

Alternative forms

• bah (obsolete)

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (Received Prononunciation)

  (file)

• Audio (General American)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː
• 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

Translations

bleating of sheep

• 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)
• 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)
• Navajo: meeʼ
• Norwegian: bæ (no) n
• Polish: beczenie (pl)
• 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)
• Czech: bé (cs)
• Danish: mæh (da), mæ
• Faroese: mæ
• Finnish: bää, mää (fi)
• German: bäh (de), mäh (de)
• Greek: μπε (be)

  Ancient: βῆ (bê)

• Icelandic: mee
• Italian: beè (it)

• Japanese: メー (mē)
• Latin: bee
• Norwegian: bæ (no)
• Polish: bee (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.
   • 1590, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the page number)”, in Fulke Greville, Matthew Gwinne, and John Florio, editors, The Covntesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] William Ponsonbie, OCLC 801077108; republished in Albert Feuillerat, editor, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (Cambridge English Classics: The Complete Works of Sir Philip Sidney; I), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1912, OCLC 318419127:

     He treble baas for help, but none can get.

   • 1902, Barbara Baynton, Sally Krimmer; Alan Lawson, editors, 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)
• 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
• Spanish: balar (es)
• Swedish: bräka (sv)
• Turkish: melemek (tr)
• Westrobothnian: blæder, mäkär, brēkj

Etymology 2

From Arabic بَاء‎ (bāʾ).

Noun

baa (plural baas)

1. The letter ب‎ in the Arabic script.

Anagrams

• A.B.A., AAB, ABA, Aba, aba

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Afar

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaː/

Noun

báa m

1. Apocopic form of babba

References

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

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Gamilaraay

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baː/

Noun

baa

1. hip

References

• Gamilaraay Yuwaalaraay Yuwaalayaay Dictionary 2003

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Manx

Noun

baa f

1. genitive singular of booa

Mutation

Manx mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
baa	vaa	maa
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

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Moore

Adverb

baa

1. even

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Navajo

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

Navajo postpositions

	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

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Shoshone

Alternative forms

• paa

Noun

baa

1. (Eastern Shoshone) water

References

• Eastern Shoshone Working Dictionary

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Swahili

Etymology 1

Noun

baa (ma class, plural mabaa)

1. evil, plague
2. danger, misfortune

Etymology 2

From English bar.

Noun

baa (n class, plural baa)

1. a bar (social pub for alcoholic drinks)

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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.