babe
English
Etymology
From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English babe, perhaps a variant of earlier baban or representing (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old English *baba (“boy, child”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Germanic *babô, reduplicated variant of *ba-, *bō- (“father, brother, close male relation”), 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.[1] Cognate also with English bub.
Pronunciation
Noun
babe (plural babes)
- (literary or poetic) A baby or infant; a very young human or animal.
- These events came to pass when he was but a babe.
- (slang) An attractive person, especially a young woman.
- 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!
- Darling (term of endearment).
- Hey, babe, how's about you and me getting together?
Quotations
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:babe.
Synonyms
- (infant): baby, child, infant
- (attractive person):
- (woman): hottie, doll, fox
- See: Thesaurus:beautiful woman
- (darling): darling, dear, love, sweetheart
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
References
- ^ Whitney, The Century dictionary and cylcopedia, babe.
See also
Anagrams
Portuguese
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -abi
Verb
babe
Romanian
Pronunciation
Noun
babe f pl
Swazi
Etymology
From Proto-Bantu *bààbá.
Noun
babé class 1a (plural bóbabé class 2a)
Inflection
This noun needs an inflection-table template.
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/eɪb
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English literary terms
- English poetic terms
- English slang
- English terms with quotations
- English affectionate terms
- en:Babies
- en:People
- Rhymes:Portuguese/abi
- Portuguese non-lemma forms
- Portuguese verb forms
- Romanian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Romanian non-lemma forms
- Romanian noun forms
- Swazi terms inherited from Proto-Bantu
- Swazi terms derived from Proto-Bantu
- Swazi lemmas
- Swazi nouns
- Swazi class 1a nouns