Baba

See also: Appendix:Variations of "baba"

English

Etymology

From Malay Baba or baba.

Noun

Baba (plural Babas)

1. (Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia) A male Peranakan.

See also

• Nyonya

See also

• Ali Baba
• Ali Baba bag
• Baba Jaga
• Baba Yaga

 

German

Etymology 1

From a Slavic language. Compare Polish baba (“grandmother”), Russian баба (baba, “grandma”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbaːba]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

Baba f (genitive Baba, plural Babas)

1. (regional) grandma

   Synonyms: Oma, Großmutter

Declension

Declension of Baba [feminine]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	eine	die	Baba	die	Babas
genitive	einer	der	Baba	der	Babas
dative	einer	der	Baba	den	Babas
accusative	eine	die	Baba	die	Babas

Further reading

• “Baba” in Duden online

Etymology 2

Adjective

Baba (indeclinable, predicative only)

1. Alternative spelling of baba (“boss, rad, fly”)

Hausa

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bàː.bá/
  • (Standard Kano Hausa) IPA^(key): [bàː.bə́]

Proper noun

Bā̀ba m or f

1. a unisex given name

Jamamadí

Proper noun

Baba

1. (Banawá) a unisex given name

References

• 2007. The UCLA Phonetics Lab Archive. Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Department of Linguistics.

Japanese

Romanization

Baba

1. Rōmaji transcription of ばば

Latvian

Etymology

First recorded as a given name of Latvians in 1618. Contraction of Barbara.

Proper noun

Baba f

1. a female given name

Usage notes

• Common in Latvia in the 17th and 18th century, but unused today.

Related terms

• Baiba

References

• Klāvs Siliņš: Latviešu personvārdu vārdnīca. Riga "Zinātne" 1990, →ISBN
• [1] Population Register of Latvia: Baba did not occur as only given name of anyone in Latvia on May 21, 2010.

Malay

Etymology

Possibly ultimately derived from Classical Persian بابا (bâbâ) or Ashokan Prakrit *𑀩𑀸𑀩𑁆𑀩𑀓 (*bābbaka, “father”). Compare Hindi बाबा (bābā), Urdu بابا (bābā), Bengali বাবা (baba). See Baba (honorific).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaba/, [ˈba.ba]

Noun

Baba (Jawi spelling باب, plural Baba-Baba, informal 1st possessive Babaku, 2nd possessive Babamu, 3rd possessive Babanya)

1. A male Peranakan (mostly found in Malacca, who speak Baba Malay, and historically descend from colonial Straits-born Chinese)
2. A male descendant of Peranakans (Baba Nyonya)

Descendants

• → English: Baba
• → Hokkien: 峇峇 (bâ-bâ / bā-bā)
  • → Cantonese: 峇峇 (baa¹ baa¹)
  • → Mandarin: 峇峇 (bābā)

See also

• baba

Further reading

• Baba Nyonya on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “Baba” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.
• Wilkinson, Richard James (1901) “باب baba”, in A Malay-English dictionary, Hong Kong: Kelly & Walsh limited, pages 72-73
• Wilkinson, Richard James (1932) “baba”, in A Malay-English dictionary (romanised), volume II, Mytilene, Greece: Salavopoulos & Kinderlis, page 59

Romanian

Etymology

From baba, definite form of babă.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

Baba f

1. A village in Horea, Alba, Romania
2. A village in Coroieni, Maramureș, Romania