Baba
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baba¹
- /ˈbɑːbɑː/
- /ˈbɑːbə/
- /ˈbæbə/
Rhymes with -ɑːbɑː, -ɑːbə, -æbə
Where it comes from
As one of the first utterances many babies are able to say, baba (like mama, papa, and dada) has come to be used in many languages as a term for various family members:
* father: Albanian, Arabic, Western Armenian, Chinese, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, Greek, Marathi, Marshallese, Mingrelian, Nepali, Persian, Swahili, Turkish, Yoruba, Shona, Zulu
* grandmother: many Slavic languages (such as Bulgarian, Czech, Russian, Serbo-Croatian and Polish; a doublet of bubbe), Romanian, Yiddish, Japanese
* grandfather: Azerbaijani, Zulu (father, grandfather)
* baby: Afrikaans, Sinhala, Hungarian
These terms often continue to be used by English speakers whose families came from one of these cultures. In some cases, they may become more widely used in localities that have been heavily influenced by an immigrant community. Some senses were extensions of one of these family terms in the original languages ("old woman" from "grandmother", "holy man" from "father"). The "cake" sense comes through French, from Polish baba (“old woman”). The Middle Eastern word baba (as in Ali Baba) is rather a term of endearment, and is ultimately derived from Persian بابا (bābā, “father”) (from Old Persian pāpa; as opposed to the Arabic words أَبُو (ʔabū) and أَب (ʔab); see also Papak), and is linguistically related to the common European word papa and the word pope, having the same Indo-European origin. The Chinese word "baba", meaning father, comes from 爸爸.
noun babas
- A kind of sponge cake soaked in rum-flavoured syrup. The trolley of fresh local cheeses, including the region's pride, mozzarella di bufala, is as attractive as the trolley of classic Neapolitan desserts, including pastiera napolitana (a ricotta cake with orange rind), feather-light baba, and, in mid-March, zeppola di San Giuseppe (whose feast day is
- A grandmother. My baba, Ksenia Dubinsky, tells me that my education makes her proud.
- An old woman, especially a traditional old woman from an Eastern European culture. Only two women, typical "babas" (peasant women) in the house from which I got my quilt and bedcloth, could be coaxed to pose;
- A father. The first time I signed my exercise I wrote "Pisistratus Caxton" in my best round-hand. "And dey call your baba a scholar!" said the Doctor, contemptuously.
- A holy man, a spiritual leader. While I was in Port Alberni, three babas came to Canada to raise money ...
- A baby, child. That is to say, if I do not take care, I shall go on calling my darling 'Baba' till she is as old as her mamma, and has a dozen Babas of her own.
- In baby talk, often used for a variety of words beginning with b, such as bottle or blanket. Oh, it's storytime! Let me get my baba.
Baba²
Where it comes from
From Malay Baba or baba.
noun Babas
- A male Peranakan.
Baba³
proper noun
- Synonym of Set (“Egyptian god”).
BABA⁴
proper noun
- Abbreviation of Alibaba.Alibaba As a result, PDD’s market cap has soared to $195.9 billion, eclipsing Alibaba’s (BABA) $190.5 billion. It’s the first time PDD has surpassed its older rival, according to data provider Refinitiv Eikon.
