babe
English
Etymology
From Middle English babe, a variant of earlier baban, perhaps from Old English *baba (“boy, child”), from Proto-West Germanic *babō, from Proto-Germanic *babô, reduplicated variant of *ba-, *bō- (“father, brother, close male relation”).
cognates and related terms
Related to Old Frisian bobba (“child”) (whence North Frisian babbe, babb, babe (“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
- IPA(key): /beɪb/, enPR: bāb
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -eɪb
Noun
babe (plural babes)
- (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,
- (slang) An attractive person, especially a young woman. [from 20th c.]
- She's a real babe!
- 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.
- (endearing) Darling (term of endearment).
- Hey, babe, how's about you and me getting together?
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
- babealicious
- babehood
- babe-in-a-cradle
- babe in arms
- babe in the wood
- babe in the woods
- babeish
- babelet
- babelike
- babe magnet
- babeship
- babish
- bikini babe
- booth babe
- Busby Babe
- Cumberbabe
- cyberbabe
- grandbabe
- innocent as a newborn babe
- innocent as the babe unborn
- out of the mouths of babes
- pit babe
- scare-babe
- spokesbabe
- superbabe
References
- Whitney, The Century dictionary and cylcopedia, babe.
Galician
Verb
babe
- inflection of babar:
- first/third-person singular present subjunctive
- third-person singular imperative
Middle English
Etymology
From Old English *baba.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈbaːb(ə)/, /ˈbab(ə)/
Derived terms
References
- “bābe, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Portuguese
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈba.bi/
- (Southern Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈba.be/
- (Portugal) IPA(key): /ˈba.bɨ/ [ˈba.βɨ]
- Rhymes: (Brazil) -abi, (Portugal) -abɨ
- Hyphenation: ba‧be
Verb
babe
- inflection of babar:
- first/third-person singular present subjunctive
- third-person singular imperative
Serbo-Croatian
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