babu

See also: Babu and baboe

English

Alternative forms

• baboo (dated)

Etymology

Borrowed from Hindi बाबू (bābū), from Proto-New Indo-Aryan *बाब्ब (bābba), imitative of baby talk.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɑːbuː/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

babu (plural babus) (India)

1. (Hinglish, North India) A Hindu title of respect, equivalent to Mr., usually appended to the surname of a Hindu man. [from 18th c.]
   • 1989, Amitav Ghosh, Shadow Lines:

     I could see Kana-babu’s sweet-shop at the end of their lane with absolute clarity.

2. (derogatory, chiefly social media) an archetypical Indian bureaucrat, perceived as being corrupt, lazy or arrogant.
   • 2025 July 10, @MehHarshil, X (Formerly Twitter)‎^[1]:

     BBMP doesn’t have any elected representatives right now. So a babu has floated this tender to benefit his favourite businessmen.

3. (historical) Originally, a Hindu gentleman employed to work as a clerk for the colonial administration; now, a clerk or low-ranking government official. [from 19th c.]
   • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, “His Chance in Life”, in Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio, published 2005, page 57:

     The Babu put on his cap and quietly dropped out of the window

   • 1934 October, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], “Chapter 2”, in Burmese Days, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, →OCLC:

     Office babus are the real rulers of this country now. Our number's up. Best thing we can do is to shut up shop and let 'em stew in their own juice.

   • 2014, James Lambert, “Diachronic stability in Indian English lexis”, in World Englishes, page 116:

     From the prevailing colonial perspective, the English of the babus was error-ridden and characterised by over-elaborate ornateness, and for these ‘transgressions’ it became the butt of native-speaker ridicule.

Derived terms

• babudom
• babu English
• babuism
• babuji

Brunei Malay

Etymology

From Javanese ꦧꦧꦸ (babu, “female servant”, literally “mother”), from Old Javanese babu (“mother; older servant”), wawuh (“familiar, acquainted”), ultimately probably from Proto-Mon-Khmer *(ʔ)boʔ (“mother”) (compare Temiar buk (“mother”), Jehai baboʔ (“woman”), Vietnamese vợ (“wife”), and Mon ၝောံ (bɜ̀ʔ)).

Noun

babu

1. A mother.

   Synonym: mama

2. An aunt.
3. Term for any middle-aged or elderly woman.

Bunun

Etymology

From Proto-Austronesian *babuy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɓa.ɓu/

Noun

babu

1. pig (livestock)

Indonesian

Alternative forms

• babo (dated)
• baboe (dated)

Etymology

Inherited from Malay babu, from Javanese ꦧꦧꦸ (babu, “female servant”, literally “mother”), from Old Javanese babu (“mother; older servant”), wawuh (“familiar, acquainted”), ultimately probably from Proto-Mon-Khmer *(ʔ)boʔ (“mother”). Compare with Temiar buk (“mother”), Jehai baboʔ (“woman”), Vietnamese vợ (“wife”), and Mon ၝောံ (bɜ̀ʔ).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbabu/
• Hyphenation: ba‧bu
• Rhymes: -bu, -u

Noun

babu (plural babu-babu)

1. (colloquial or somewhat derogatory) housemaid; servant

Derived terms

• memperbabu

• babu cuci
• babu dalam
• babu masak
• babu tetek

See also

• jongos

Further reading

• “babu”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Jarawa

Etymology

From Hindi बाबू (bābū). Cognate to Önge babu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /babu/

Noun

babu

1. official, officer (of the Indian government of the Andamans)

References

• Kumar, Pramod (2012) Descriptive and Typological Study of Jarawa^[2] (PhD). Jawaharlal Nehru University. Page 111, 141, 187.

Javanese

Romanization

babu

1. romanization of ꦧꦧꦸ

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbabu]

Noun

babu

1. accusative/instrumental singular of baba

Old Javanese

Etymology

Unknown, ultimately probably from Proto-Mon-Khmer *(ʔ)boʔ (“mother”). Compare Temiar buk (“mother”), Jehai baboʔ (“woman”), Vietnamese vợ (“wife”), and Mon ၝောံ (bɜ̀ʔ).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ba.bu/
• Rhymes: -bu
• Hyphenation: ba‧bu

Noun

babu

1. mother

   Synonyms: babu, bibi, ibu, iduṅ, ina, inaṅ, induṅ, janmayoni, mātā, matuh, rena

2. older servant

Derived terms

• mababu

Descendants

• > Javanese: ꦧꦧꦸ (babu) (inherited)
  • → Dutch: baboe
  • → Brunei Malay: babu
  • → Malay: babu
    • Indonesian: babu
  • → Peranakan Indonesian: babu
• → Balinese: ᬩᬩᬸ (babu)

Further reading

• "babu" in P.J. Zoetmulder with the collaboration of S.O. Robson, Old Javanese-English Dictionary. 's-Gravenhage: M. Nijhoff, 1982.

Serbo-Croatian

Noun

babu (Cyrillic spelling бабу)

1. accusative singular of baba

Shabo

Adjective

babu

1. two

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /babu/, [ˈbabu]
• Rhymes: -abu
• Hyphenation: ba‧bu

Noun

babu

1. accusative singular of baba

Swahili

Pronunciation

• Audio (Kenya):

  (file)

Etymology 1

Noun

babu class V (plural mababu class VI)

1. grandfather (from either side)
2. ancestor, forebear

Coordinate terms

• bibi

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Arabic بَاب (bāb).

Noun

babu class IX (plural babu class X)

1. chapter

Tagalog

Alternative forms

• vavu

Etymology

A play on babay or English bye-bye.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /baˈbu/ [bɐˈbʊ]
• Rhymes: -u
• Syllabification: ba‧bu

Interjection

babú (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜊᜓ)

1. (slang) goodbye; ta ta

   Synonyms: paalam, babay

Ternate

Etymology

Cognate to Galela babu, unless the Galela is borrowed from Ternate.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈba.bu/

Verb

babu (Jawi بابو)

1. (intransitive) (of humans) to fall

   Synonym: doro (of non-humans)

   ngofa ibabu ― children fall

   إبابو تم کاه ― ibabu toma kaha ― they fell on the ground

2. (intransitive) to be overthrown

Conjugation

Conjugation of babu

		singular	plural
			inclusive	exclusive
1st person		tobabu	fobabu	mibabu
2nd person		nobabu	nibabu
3rd person	masculine	obabu	ibabu yobabu (archaic)
	feminine	mobabu
	neuter	ibabu

References

• Frederik Sigismund Alexander de Clercq (1890), Bijdragen tot de kennis der Residentie Ternate, E.J. Brill
• Rika Hayami-Allen (2001), A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh

Veps

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *papu. The initial b- was introduced by analogy with Russian боб (bob).

Noun

babu

1. bean

Inflection

Inflection of babu (inflection type 1/ilo)
nominative sing.	babu
genitive sing.	babun
partitive sing.	babud
partitive plur.	babuid
	singular	plural
nominative	babu	babud
accusative	babun	babud
genitive	babun	babuiden
partitive	babud	babuid
essive-instructive	babun	babuin
translative	babuks	babuikš
inessive	babus	babuiš
elative	babuspäi	babuišpäi
illative	babuhu	babuihe
adessive	babul	babuil
ablative	babulpäi	babuilpäi
allative	babule	babuile
abessive	babuta	babuita
comitative	babunke	babuidenke
prolative	babudme	babuidme
approximative I	babunno	babuidenno
approximative II	babunnoks	babuidennoks
egressive	babunnopäi	babuidennopäi
terminative I	babuhusai	babuihesai
terminative II	babulesai	babuilesai
terminative III	babussai	—
additive I	babuhupäi	babuihepäi
additive II	babulepäi	babuilepäi

References

• Zajceva, N. G.; Mullonen, M. I. (2007), “боб”, in Uz’ venä-vepsläine vajehnik / Novyj russko-vepsskij slovarʹ [New Russian–Veps Dictionary]‎^[3], Petrozavodsk: Periodika

Yindjibarndi

Noun

babu

1. father