babe

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”).

• IPA^(key): /beɪb/, enPR: bāb

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪb

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.]

   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.

3. (endearing) A darling (a 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.

   • 1968 December 8, Henry Cosby, Sylvia Moy, Stevie Wonder, “I’d Be a Fool Right Now”, in For Once in My Life, performed by Stevie Wonder, Tamla Records:

     But they don't know that your sweet loving, babe
     Was here when all my friends were gone

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

• abbe, abbé

babe

1. inflection of babar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

• bab, babbe
• (early) baban

From Old English *baba.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaːb(ə)/, /ˈbab(ə)/

babe (plural babes)

1. baby, infant

• baby

• English: babe, bab
• → Irish: báb
• → Welsh: baban

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

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

babe

1. inflection of babar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

• IPA^(key): [ˈba.be]

babe f pl

1. plural of babă

babe (Cyrillic spelling бабе)

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

• IPA^(key): /babe/, [ˈbabe]
• Rhymes: -abe
• Hyphenation: ba‧be

babe

1. dative/locative singular of baba

From Proto-Bantu *bààbá.

babé class 1a (plural bóbabé class 2a)

1. my father

This noun needs an inflection-table template.