bab

See also: Bab, Bab., and báb

English

Etymology

Clipping of babby (“baby”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bæb/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æb

Noun

bab (plural babs)

1. (UK, informal) Baby
2. (fishing, East Anglia) A bait for eels, consisting of a bundle of live worms.
   • 2006 February 1, John Meiklejohn, “Babbing for eels”, in BBC - WW2 People's War‎^[1]:

     The worms were threaded onto the yarn until we had 4 or 5 feet of big juicy worms threaded through. We would coil it all up and put an old rusty nut at the centre and tie it on a bit of string on an old ash pole — this was the bab.

Synonyms

• (baby): see Thesaurus:baby
• (bait): clod

Derived terms

• babber

Verb

bab (third-person singular simple present babs, present participle babbing, simple past and past participle babbed)

1. (intransitive, fishing, East Anglia) To fish for eels using a bab.
   • 1884, George Christopher Davies, Norfolk Broads and Rivers, W. Blackwood and sons, page 244:

     The babbers follow the eels, and you may see fifteen boats as close together as possible, babbing away, and catching as much as four stone-weight of eels per boat of a night.

   • 1948, William Guy, Mostly Memories: Some Digressions, C. J. Cousland, page 24:

     Sometimes we trolled or set liggers for pike, we seldom babbed for eels, it was such a slimy job.

   • 2006 February 1, John Meiklejohn, “Babbing for eels”, in BBC - WW2 People's War‎^[2]:

     Another classic example was babbing for eels; he would come along and say — ‘Goodnight for babbing, make you some babs’.

Anagrams

• B.B.A., BBA, abb, abb.

Haitian Creole

Alternative forms

• labab

Etymology

From French barbe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bab/

Noun

bab

1. beard, whiskers

Derived terms

• bab kabrit (“goatee”)
• bab pou bab (“face to face”)

Hungarian

Etymology

From a Slavic language, compare Serbo-Croatian bob, Slovak bôb, Russian боб (bob, “bean”), from Proto-Slavic *bobъ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbɒb]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒb

Noun

bab (usually uncountable, plural babok)

1. bean

   Synonyms: (regional) fuszulyka, (regional) paszuly, (obsolete; today “peas”) borsó

Declension

Inflection (stem in -o-, back harmony)

	singular	plural
nominative	bab	babok
accusative	babot	babokat
dative	babnak	baboknak
instrumental	babbal	babokkal
causal-final	babért	babokért
translative	babbá	babokká
terminative	babig	babokig
essive-formal	babként	babokként
essive-modal	—	—
inessive	babban	babokban
superessive	babon	babokon
adessive	babnál	baboknál
illative	babba	babokba
sublative	babra	babokra
allative	babhoz	babokhoz
elative	babból	babokból
delative	babról	babokról
ablative	babtól	baboktól
non-attributive possessive – singular	babé	baboké
non-attributive possessive – plural	babéi	babokéi

Possessive forms of bab

possessor	single possession	multiple possessions
1st person sing.	babom	babjaim
2nd person sing.	babod	babjaid
3rd person sing.	babja	babjai
1st person plural	babunk	babjaink
2nd person plural	babotok	babjaitok
3rd person plural	babjuk	babjaik

Derived terms

• babos

Compound words with this term at the beginning

• babérc
• babfőzelék
• babgulyás
• babkaró
• babkávé
• bableves
• babliszt
• babszalma
• babszem
• babzsák

Compound words with this term at the end

• bokorbab
• csicseribab
• farkasbab
• futóbab
• gyalogbab
• juliskabab
• kakaóbab
• karósbab
• kávébab
• kifejtőbab
• lóbab
• májbab
• szárazbab
• szójabab
• tarkabab
• törökbab
• vajbab
• zöldbab

Further reading

• bab in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.
• bab in Nóra Ittzés, editor, A magyar nyelv nagyszótára [A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (Nszt.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published a–ez as of 2024).

Indonesian

Etymology

From Malay bab, from Arabic بَاب (bāb).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈbab/ [ˈbap̚]
• Rhymes: -ab
• Syllabification: bab

Noun

bab (plural bab-bab)

1. chapter (of a book)
2. (rare) case, matter

   Synonyms: hal, masalah, perkara

Further reading

• “bab” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Irish

Noun

bab m (genitive singular bab, nominative plural babanna)

1. Alternative form of bob (“bob; fringe”)

Noun

bab m (genitive singular bab, nominative plural babanna)

1. Alternative form of bob (“stump, target”)

Declension

Declension of bab (fourth declension)

bare forms singular plural nominative bab babanna vocative a bhab a bhabanna genitive bab babanna dative bab babanna forms with the definite article singular plural nominative an bab na babanna genitive an bhab na mbabanna dative leis an mbab don bhab leis na babanna

Mutation

Mutated forms of bab

radical	lenition	eclipsis
bab	bhab	mbab

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

References

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “bab”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

Juba Arabic

Bab

Etymology

From Arabic بَاب (bāb).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbab/, [ˈbab]

Noun

bab (plural babaat)

1. door

References

• Ian Smith, Morris Timothy Ama (1985) A Dictionary of Juba Arabic & English‎^[3], 1st edition, Juba: The Committee of The Juba Cheshire Home and Centre for Handicapped Children, page 41

Malay

Etymology

From Arabic بَاب (bāb).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bap/
• Rhymes: -bap, -ap

Noun

bab (Jawi spelling باب, plural bab-bab)

1. chapter (section in a book)

Further reading

• “bab” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

Meriam

Noun

bab

1. father or paternal uncle

Middle English

Noun

bab

1. Alternative form of babe

Northern Kurdish

Alternative forms

• bav

Noun

bab m

1. father

Palauan

Etymology

From Pre-Palauan *babo, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *babaw, from Proto-Austronesian *babaw.

Adjective

bab

1. above, top

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbap/
• Rhymes: -ap
• Syllabification: bab

Noun

bab f

1. genitive plural of baba

Rohingya

Alternative forms

• 𐴁𐴝𐴁𐴢 (bab) — Hanifi Rohingya script

Etymology

From Sanskrit वप्र (vapra). Cognate with Sylheti ꠛꠣꠙ (baf), Assamese বাপ (bap), Bengali বাপ (bap), Hindi बाप (bāp).

Noun

bab (Hanifi spelling 𐴁𐴝𐴁𐴢)

1. father

   Synonym: baf

Romagnol

Etymology

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• (Central Romagnol): IPA^(key): [ˈbaɐ̯b]

Noun

bab m (plural bëb)

1. Alternative form of ba
   • 1920, Olindo Guerrini, edited by Zanichelli, Sonetti romagnoli, published 1967:

     Allora e' babb d' sta bela zuvintò

     And then the father of this beautiful youth

References

• Masotti, Adelmo (1996) Vocabolario Romagnolo Italiano [Romagnol-Italian dictionary] (in Italian), Bologna: Zanichelli, page 51

Romansch

Alternative forms

• bap (Puter, Vallader)

Etymology

From Late Latin *babbus. Compare Sardinian babbu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [baːp]

Noun

bab m (plural babs)

1. (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran) father

Coordinate terms

• mamma

See also

• pader (term to address a priest or monk)

Scots

Etymology 1

Compare bob, likely cognate of English bob, from Middle English bobben (“to strike, to shake”).

Verb

bab (third-person singular simple present babs, present participle babbin, simple past bab'd, past participle bab'd)

1. synonym of bob (“to move up and down”)
2. to dance, to hop
   • 1733, Allan Ramsay, “Christ’s Kirk on the Green”, in Poems by Allan Ramsay‎^[4], page 52:

     The lasses bab’d about the reel / Gar’d a’ their hurdies wallop

     The girls danced around the ring / Making their bottoms gallop

Etymology 2

From older Scots bob; compare Middle English bobbe (“cluster of fruit; spray of leaves”).

Noun

bab (plural babs)

1. nosegay, a bunch of flowers; a tassel, a bunch of ribbons
2. (in compounds) something fine, something decorated

   wooer bab ― a garter tied below the knee

3. a lump, dollop
4. (figuratively) a lumpish person, an idiot

Etymology 3

From Northern Middle English bab, a variant of babe.

Noun

bab (plural babs)

1. (obsolete) a babe, baby

References

• “bab, v.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.
• “bobben v.¹”, in Middle English Compendium, 2019 November
• “bab, n.¹”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.
• “bob, n.¹”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.
• “bob, n.¹.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.
• “bobbe”, in Middle English Compendium, 2019 November
• “bab, n.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pap/

Noun

bab m (genitive singular baba, plural baban or babannan)

1. tuft, tassel
2. child's excrement (hence abab)
3. stain

   Bithidh sin 'n a bhab air fhad 's is beò e.

   That will be a stain on him as long as he lives.

Related terms

• abab

Mutation

Mutation of bab

radical	lenition
bab	bhab

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

Further reading

• Edward Dwelly (1911) “bab”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary]‎^[5], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
• MacLennan, Malcolm (1925) A Pronouncing and Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language, Edinburgh: J. Grant, →OCLC

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baːb/

Noun

bab

1. Soft mutation of pab.

Mutation

Mutated forms of pab

radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
pab	bab	mhab	phab

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

Zazaki

Noun

bab m

1. father (sort form)