English

Etymology

As one of the first utterances many babies are able to say, (like , , and ) has come to be used in many languages as a term for various family members:

• father: Chinese, Hindi, Bangla, Persian, Swahili, ...
• grandmother: many Slavic language (such as Russian and Polish), Yiddish, Japanese, ...
• baby: Afrikaans, ...

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 from {{term|baba||old woman|lang=pl}}. The Middle Eastern word (as in ) is rather a term of endearment, and is ultimately derived from {{term|sc=fa-Arab|بابا|tr=bābā||father|lang=fa}} (from ; as opposed to the Arabic words {{term|sc=Arab|ابو|tr=’ábu|lang=ar}} and {{term|sc=Arab|أب|tr=’ab|lang=ar}}, as well as the Turkish word ; see also w:Papak|Papak) , and is linguistically related to the common European word and the word , having the same w:Indo-European languages|Indo-European origin.

Noun

1. A kind of sponge cake soaked in rum-flavoured syrup.
2. A grandmother.
3. * 1993, Karen Dubinsky, Improper Advances: Rape and Heterosexual Conflict in Ontario, 1880-1929, University of Chicago Press
4. *: My baba, Ksenia Dubinsky, tells me that my education makes her proud.
5. * 2001, Brattleboro Remembers, edited by the Brattleboro [Vermont] Historical Society, Arcadia Publishing
6. *: I walked first for my grandmother, and my mother was sorry she had missed my first steps. My Baba was so proud, my mother later told me.
7. * 2004: A Woman's Europe: True Stories, edited by MaryBeth Bond
8. *: As we made eye contact, I slowly began to wonder if she was Baba. I did not know my grandmother though I'd spoken with her several times on the telephone;
9. An old woman, especially a traditional old woman from an eastern European culture.
10. * 1914, Russell Sage Foundation, Wage-earning Pittsburgh
11. *: Only two women, typical "babas" (peasant women) in the house from which I got my quilt and bedcloth, could be coaxed to pose;
12. * 1986, Janice Kulyk Keefer, The Paris-Napoli Express
13. *: Laura hadn't known that anyone's mother could look like that, like the babas you sometimes saw downtown, bandaged in kerchiefs and aprons, sitting toothless in stockinged feet on small verandahs, peeling potatoes or beets or just shaking their heads and grimacing.
14. * 2003, Food Tourism Around The World: Development, Management and Markets, edited by Colin Michael Hall and Liz Sharples
15. *: According to some, new volunteers are becoming more difficult to recruit and there are dark suggestions that 'money is being made on the backs of the babas', the dedicated, but ageing ladies who still spend countless hours of their time preparing foodstuffs for the occasion.
16. A father
17. * 1849, Edward Bulwer Lytton, The Caxtons
18. *: 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.
19. * 1998, Mulan (movie)
20. *: "The greatest gift and honor is having you for a daughter. I've missed you so." "I've missed you too, baba."
21. * 2002, Bend It Like Beckham (movie)
22. *: Okay. Okay. Fine, baba. Let's just do it before something else goes wrong.
23. * 2003, House of Sand and Fog (movie)
24. *: "Do not be disrespectful, son. Look at me." "Baba, were you a Savaki?"
25. In the Context of A holy man, a spiritual leader
26. * 1995, Hugh J.M. Johnston and Tara Singh Bains, The Four Quarters of the Night: The Life-Journey of an Emigrant Sikh
27. *: While I was in Port Alberni, three babas came to Canada to raise money ...
28. * 2004, Andrew Robinson, Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye: The Biography of a Master Film-Maker
29. *: But according to Ray, 'all the babas my uncle knew were genuine. None of them was exposed. They were fairly humble people, not show-offs like the Maharishi ...
30. * 2006, Suraiya Faroqhi, Subjects Of The Sultan: Culture And Daily Life In The Ottoman Empire
31. *: Most babas had little contact with written culture and are not therefore named in books and treatises.
32. A baby, child
33. * 1876, Sir George Otto Trevelyan, The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay
34. *: 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.
35. * 1904, Rudyard Kipling, Traffics and Discoveries
36. *: For my child is dead--my baba is dead!
37. In baby talk, often used for a variety of words beginning with "b", such as "bottle" or "blanket"
38. * 2004, House (TV, episode 1.14)
39. *: Oh, it's storytime! Let me get my baba.

Related terms

• baba au rhum
• rhumbaba, rum baba
• baba ganoush

----

Afrikaans

Noun

{{infl|af|noun|plural|babas}}

1. baby

----

Albanian

Noun

1. father

----

Bosnian

Noun

1. grandmother
2. grandma
3. granny
4. old woman

Declension

{{bs-decl-noun |baba|babe |babe|baba |babi|babama |babu|babe |babo|babe |babom|babama |babi|babama }}

Synonyms

• nena#Bosnian|nena

----

Crimean Tatar

Noun

baba

1. father
2. dad

Declension

{{crh-latin-noun|nıñ|ğa|nı|da|dan}}

Category:Crimean Tatar nouns Category:crh:Family

----

Croatian

Noun

1. grandmother
2. grandma
3. granny
4. old woman

Declension

{{hr-decl-noun |baba|babe |babe|baba |babi|babama |babu|babe |babo|babe |babi|babama |babom|babama }}

----

Finnish

Noun

1. #English|Baba, babka, a type of cake.

Category:fi:Desserts

----

French

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ba.ba/,

Noun

1. #English|baba

----

German

Etymology

A link of the term with the American is possible but not certain.

Interjection

1. {{context|informal|especially|_|in|_|Austria|lang=de}} see you, so long

Usage notes

• In Austria, especially East Austria, baba is the most commonly used informal term for saying "goodbye".

----

Hungarian

Noun

1. doll
2. baby (very young child)

Category:hu:Family Category:hu:Toys

----

Japanese

Noun

{{ja-noun|k|hira=ばば|hidx=はば'}}

1. old woman
2. (playing card)joker
3. grandmother
4. riding ground
5. excrement, feces
6. excrement, feces

----

Mandarin

Pronunciation

• IPA: [pa˥˩pa]

Noun

{{cmn-noun|p|pin=bàba|pint=ba4ba|tas=爸爸}}

1. dad, papa

See also

• 阿爸 (a-pah)

----

Polish

Noun

1. old woman, woman

----

Romanian

Pronunciation

IPA: ['ba.ba]

Noun

{{ro-noun-def|fs|na|babă}}

1. the old woman

----

Serbian

Noun

{{sr-noun|g=f|pl=babe|cyr=баба}}

1. grandmother
2. grandma
3. granny
4. old woman

Declension

{{sr-decl-noun |baba|babe |babe|baba |babi|babama |babu|babe |babo|babe |babom|babama |babi|babama }}

----

Spanish

Etymology

From the hypothetical word *.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈbaβa/

Noun

1. drool, dribble
2. :* La chacha lavaba, y mientras lavaba, la baba se le caía — The maid washed, and as she washed, she drooled. (classroom example of b/v use)

See also

• cieno
• lama

----

Tagalog

Adverb

1. low

Noun

1. chin

Verb

1. to descend

----

Turkish

Etymology

The sense of "father" from {{term|sc=fa-Arab|بابا|tr=bābā|lang=fa}}.

Noun

1. father
2. Saint w:Gül Baba|Gül Baba

Derived terms

• Âdem baba
• ağababa
• ana baba
• Arap Baba
• baba adam
• baba bucağı
• baba evi
• baba hindi
• baba mirası

• baba nasihati
• baba ocağı
• Baba Oruç
• baba tatlısı
• baba yadigârı
• baba yurdu
• babaanne
• babacan
• babayiğit

• ballıbaba
• büyük baba
• dedebaba
• devlet baba
• efendibaba
• Gani Baba
• Gül Baba
• Haçkalı Baba
• iskele babası

• kayın baba
• Mimi Baba
• Noel baba
• paşa baba
• Şam Baba
• Somuncu Baba
• üvey baba

Category:tr:Family

af:baba az:baba de:baba et:baba el:baba es:baba fr:baba hr:baba io:baba id:baba it:baba csb:baba sw:baba lt:baba hu:baba nl:baba pl:baba pt:baba ro:baba ru:baba sq:baba fi:baba tl:baba vi:baba tr:baba zh:baba