babe

See also: babë

English

Etymology

From Middle English babe, perhaps a variant of earlier baban or representing Old English *baba ‎(“boy, child”), from Proto-Germanic *babô, reduplicated variant of *ba-, *bō- ‎(“father, brother, close male relation”), related to Old Frisian bobba ‎(“child”), Swedish dialectal babbe ‎(“little boy”), Old High German Babo ‎(a male forename), see boy. Otherwise, origin obscure. Compare mama, dada, papa. Welsh baban ‎(“baby”), believed by Skeat to be a mutation of maban, a diminutive of mab ("son"), is probably rather a borrowing from English. Cognate also with English bub.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /beɪb/, enPR: bāb

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪb

Noun

babe ‎(plural babes)

1. (literary or poetic) A baby or infant; a very young human or animal.

   These events came to pass when he was but a babe.

2. (slang) An attractive person, especially a young woman.

   She's a real babe!

3. Darling (term of endearment).

   Hey, babe, how's about you and me getting together?

Quotations

• For usage examples of this term, see Citations:babe.

Synonyms

• (infant): baby, child, infant
• (attractive person):
  • (woman): hottie, doll, fox
  • See: Wikisaurus:beautiful woman
• (darling): darling, dear, love, sweetheart

Translations

baby or infant — see baby

attractive person

• Dutch: stuk (nl) f
• Finnish: typykkä (fi)

• Portuguese: miúda (pt) f (informal)
• Russian: мила́шка (ru) f ‎(miláška), красо́тка (ru) f ‎(krasótka)

darling — see baby

Derived terms

• bikini babe
• babe magnet
• out of the mouths of babes

Related terms

• baby

See also

• infant

Anagrams

• abbe, abbé

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Portuguese

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -abi

Verb

babe

1. first-person singular present subjunctive of babar
2. third-person singular present subjunctive of babar
3. third-person singular imperative of babar

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Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈba.be]

Noun

babe f pl

1. plural of babă