babe

nouncommon in dialogue

//beɪb//

A baby or infant; a very young human or animal.

noun

1
A baby or infant; a very young human or animal.
These events came to pass when he was but a babe.
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
slangAn attractive person, especially a young woman.
She's a real babe!
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
A darling (a term of endearment).
Hey, babe, how's about you and me getting together?
But, Babe, you don't have to meet 'em if you don't want to.
But they don't know that your sweet loving, babe Was here when all my friends were gone

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰā- Proto-Germanic *bō-redup. Proto-Germanic *babô Proto-West Germanic *babō Old English *baba Middle English babe English 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”). 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. Cognate also with English bub.

Forms

plural: babes

baba · A kind of sponge cake soaked in rum-flavoured syrup.Baba · A male Peranakan.babbling · a stage in child language acquisition, during which an infant…

babe · A baby or infant; a very young human or animal.

Babe · A male given name or nickname baboon · An Old World monkey of the genus Papio, having dog-like…Babs · A diminutive of the female given name Barbara.

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.