babe

See also: Babe, babë, babę, and Ba Bể

English

Etymology

From Middle English babe, a variant of earlier baban, perhaps from Old English *baba (“boy, child”), from Proto-Germanic *babô, reduplicated variant of *ba-, *bō- (“father, brother, close male relation”).

cognates and related terms

Related to Old Frisian bobba (“child”), 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. [from 14th c.]

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

   • 1874, James Thomson, The City of Dreadful Night:

     Though he possess sweet babes and loving wife,
     A home of peace by loyal friendships cheered,
     And love them more than death or happy life,

2. (slang) An attractive person, especially a young woman. [from 20th c.]
   • 2002, Charles Hebbert, Dan Richardson, The Rough Guide to Budapest, 2nd edition, London: Rough Guides, →ISBN, page 73:

     During the 1980s, its vivid streetlife became a symbol of the “consumer socialism” that distinguished Hungary from other Eastern Bloc states, but Budapesters today are rather less enamoured of Váci: dressed-to-kill babes and their sugar daddies would rather pose in malls, and teenagers can find McDonald's anywhere, leaving Váci utterly dependent on tourists for its livelihood and bustle.

   She's a real babe!

3. (endearing) Darling (term of endearment).

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

   • 1916 March 11, Charles E. Van Loan, “His Folks”, in Saturday Evening Post‎^[1]:

     But, Babe, you don't have to meet 'em if you don't want to.

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

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

 

Translations

baby or infant — see baby

attractive person

• Dutch: stuk (nl) n
• Finnish: typykkä (fi)
• German: Puppe (de) f (female person)

• Irish: bean bhreá, spéirbhean f, áille f, fear breá, staic f
• Portuguese: gata (pt) f (informal)
• Russian: мила́шка (ru) f (miláška), красо́тка (ru) f (krasótka)

darling — see baby

Anagrams

• abbe, abbé

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• bab, babbe
• (early) baban

Etymology

From Old English *baba.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaːb(ə)/, /ˈbab(ə)/

Noun

babe (plural babes)

1. baby, infant

Derived terms

• baby

Descendants

• English: babe, bab
• → Welsh: baban

References

• “bābe, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

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Portuguese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Brazil) /ˈba.bi/, [ˈba.bi]

• IPA^(key): (Portugal) /ˈba.bɨ/, [ˈba.βɨ]

• Rhymes: (Brazil) -abi, (Portugal) -abɨ
• Hyphenation: ba‧be

Verb

babe

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of babar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of babar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of babar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of babar

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Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈba.be]

Noun

babe f pl

1. plural of babă

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Serbo-Croatian

Noun

babe (Cyrillic spelling бабе)

1. inflection of baba:
   1. genitive singular
   2. nominative/accusative/vocative plural

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Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbabe]

Noun

babe

1. dative/locative singular of baba

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Swazi

Etymology

From Proto-Bantu *bààbá.

Noun

babé 1a (plural bóbabé 2a)

1. my father

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.