See baba in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for baba meaning in English (16.7kB)
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "",
"3": "baba"
},
"expansion": "baba",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "mama"
},
"expansion": "mama",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "papa"
},
"expansion": "papa",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "dada"
},
"expansion": "dada",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "fr",
"3": "-"
},
"expansion": "French",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "pl",
"3": "baba",
"4": "",
"5": "old woman"
},
"expansion": "Polish baba (“old woman”)",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "Ali Baba"
},
"expansion": "Ali Baba",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "fa",
"3": "بابا",
"4": "",
"5": "father",
"tr": "bābā"
},
"expansion": "Persian بابا (bābā, “father”)",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "peo",
"3": "",
"4": "pāpa"
},
"expansion": "Old Persian pāpa",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "ar",
"2": "أَبُو"
},
"expansion": "أَبُو (ʔabū)",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "ar",
"2": "أَب"
},
"expansion": "أَب (ʔab)",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "und",
"2": "papa"
},
"expansion": "papa",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "pope"
},
"expansion": "pope",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "zh",
"2": "爸爸"
},
"expansion": "爸爸",
"name": "m"
}
],
"etymology_text": "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:\n* father: Albanian, Arabic, Western Armenian, Chinese, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, Greek, Marathi, Mingrelian, Nepali, Persian, Swahili, Turkish, Yoruba, Shona, Zulu\n* grandmother: many Slavic languages (such as Bulgarian, Russian, Czech and Polish), Romanian, Yiddish, Japanese\n* grandfather: Azerbaijani, Zulu (father, grandfather)\n* baby: Afrikaans, Sinhala, Hungarian\nThese 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.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "babas",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "nouns",
"3": "plural",
"4": "babas",
"cat2": "countable nouns"
},
"expansion": "baba (plural babas)",
"name": "head"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"related": [
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
"word": "baba au rhum"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
"word": "rhumbaba"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
"word": "rum baba"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
"word": "baba ganoush"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
"word": "babushka"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "55 2 11 2 13 2 15",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "71 3 6 3 7 3 9",
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Cakes and pastries",
"orig": "en:Cakes and pastries",
"parents": [
"Desserts",
"Foods",
"Eating",
"Food and drink",
"Human behaviour",
"All topics",
"Human",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "30 2 8 2 13 20 26",
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Children",
"orig": "en:Children",
"parents": [
"Youth",
"Age",
"People",
"Human",
"Time",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "31 2 5 2 25 18 17",
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Leaders",
"orig": "en:Leaders",
"parents": [
"People",
"Human",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "21 3 9 23 19 12 13",
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Male family members",
"orig": "en:Male family members",
"parents": [
"Family members",
"Male people",
"Family",
"Male",
"People",
"Gender",
"Human",
"Biology",
"Psychology",
"Sociology",
"All topics",
"Sciences",
"Social sciences",
"Fundamental",
"Society"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "27 1 8 1 25 18 19",
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Male people",
"orig": "en:Male people",
"parents": [
"Male",
"People",
"Gender",
"Human",
"Biology",
"Psychology",
"Sociology",
"All topics",
"Sciences",
"Social sciences",
"Fundamental",
"Society"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A kind of sponge cake soaked in rum-flavoured syrup."
],
"id": "en-baba-en-noun-7e2szxEa",
"links": [
[
"sponge cake",
"sponge cake"
],
[
"syrup",
"syrup"
]
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "92 0 3 0 3 0 3",
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "flavoured sponge cake",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "babà"
},
{
"_dis1": "92 0 3 0 3 0 3",
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "flavoured sponge cake",
"word": "baba"
},
{
"_dis1": "92 0 3 0 3 0 3",
"code": "el",
"lang": "Greek",
"roman": "bampás",
"sense": "flavoured sponge cake",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "μπαμπάς"
},
{
"_dis1": "92 0 3 0 3 0 3",
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "flavoured sponge cake",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "babà"
},
{
"_dis1": "92 0 3 0 3 0 3",
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "flavoured sponge cake",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "baba"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1993, Karen Dubinsky, Improper Advances: Rape and Heterosexual Conflict in Ontario, 1880-1929, University of Chicago Press",
"text": "My baba, Ksenia Dubinsky, tells me that my education makes her proud.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"text": "2001, Brattleboro Remembers, edited by the Brattleboro [Vermont] Historical Society, Arcadia Publishing\nI 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."
},
{
"ref": "2004, MaryBeth Bond, editor, A Woman's Europe: True Stories",
"text": "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;",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A grandmother."
],
"id": "en-baba-en-noun-vAIVWnkq",
"links": [
[
"grandmother",
"grandmother"
]
],
"qualifier": "especially among people of East European ancestry",
"raw_glosses": [
"(especially among people of East European ancestry) A grandmother."
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "14 15 45 2 9 7 8",
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Female family members",
"orig": "en:Female family members",
"parents": [
"Family members",
"Female people",
"Family",
"Female",
"People",
"Gender",
"Human",
"Biology",
"Psychology",
"Sociology",
"All topics",
"Sciences",
"Social sciences",
"Fundamental",
"Society"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1914, Russell Sage Foundation, Wage-earning Pittsburgh",
"text": "Only two women, typical \"babas\" (peasant women) in the house from which I got my quilt and bedcloth, could be coaxed to pose;",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1986, Janice Kulyk Keefer, The Paris-Napoli Express",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2003, Colin Michael Hall, Liz Sharples, editors, Food Tourism Around The World: Development, Management and Markets",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"An old woman, especially a traditional old woman from an eastern European culture."
],
"id": "en-baba-en-noun-bNPnmZPO",
"links": [
[
"old woman",
"old woman"
]
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "21 3 9 23 19 12 13",
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Male family members",
"orig": "en:Male family members",
"parents": [
"Family members",
"Male people",
"Family",
"Male",
"People",
"Gender",
"Human",
"Biology",
"Psychology",
"Sociology",
"All topics",
"Sciences",
"Social sciences",
"Fundamental",
"Society"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1849, Edward Bulwer Lytton, The Caxtons",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1998, Mulan (movie)",
"text": "\"The greatest gift and honor is having you for a daughter. I've missed you so.\" \"I've missed you too, baba.\""
},
{
"ref": "2002, Bend It Like Beckham (movie)",
"text": "Okay. Okay. Fine, baba. Let's just do it before something else goes wrong."
},
{
"ref": "2003, House of Sand and Fog (movie)",
"text": "\"Do not be disrespectful, son. Look at me.\" \"Baba, were you a Savaki?\""
}
],
"glosses": [
"A father."
],
"id": "en-baba-en-noun-TTeGOiVa",
"links": [
[
"father",
"father"
]
],
"qualifier": "especially among people of Indian or Chinese ancestry",
"raw_glosses": [
"(especially among people of Indian or Chinese ancestry) A father."
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Hinduism",
"orig": "en:Hinduism",
"parents": [
"India",
"Religion",
"Asia",
"Culture",
"Earth",
"Eurasia",
"Society",
"Nature",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Islam",
"orig": "en:Islam",
"parents": [
"Abrahamism",
"Religion",
"Culture",
"Society",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Sikhism",
"orig": "en:Sikhism",
"parents": [
"Religion",
"Culture",
"Society",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "30 2 8 2 13 20 26",
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Children",
"orig": "en:Children",
"parents": [
"Youth",
"Age",
"People",
"Human",
"Time",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "21 3 9 23 19 12 13",
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Male family members",
"orig": "en:Male family members",
"parents": [
"Family members",
"Male people",
"Family",
"Male",
"People",
"Gender",
"Human",
"Biology",
"Psychology",
"Sociology",
"All topics",
"Sciences",
"Social sciences",
"Fundamental",
"Society"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "27 1 8 1 25 18 19",
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Male people",
"orig": "en:Male people",
"parents": [
"Male",
"People",
"Gender",
"Human",
"Biology",
"Psychology",
"Sociology",
"All topics",
"Sciences",
"Social sciences",
"Fundamental",
"Society"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1995, Hugh J.M. Johnston, Tara Singh Bains, The Four Quarters of the Night: The Life-Journey of an Emigrant Sikh",
"text": "While I was in Port Alberni, three babas came to Canada to raise money ...",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2004, Andrew Robinson, Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye: The Biography of a Master Film-Maker",
"text": "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 ...",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2006, Suraiya Faroqhi, Subjects Of The Sultan: Culture And Daily Life In The Ottoman Empire",
"text": "Most babas had little contact with written culture and are not therefore named in books and treatises.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A holy man, a spiritual leader."
],
"id": "en-baba-en-noun-22hZqm3a",
"links": [
[
"Hinduism",
"Hinduism"
],
[
"Sikhism",
"Sikhism"
],
[
"holy",
"holy"
],
[
"spiritual",
"spiritual"
],
[
"leader",
"leader"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism) A holy man, a spiritual leader."
],
"tags": [
"Hinduism",
"Sikhism"
],
"topics": [
"Islam",
"lifestyle",
"religion"
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "2 0 3 0 93 0 2",
"code": "bn",
"lang": "Bengali",
"roman": "baba",
"sense": "holy man, spiritual leader",
"word": "বাবা"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 0 3 0 93 0 2",
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "holy man, spiritual leader",
"word": "isä"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 0 3 0 93 0 2",
"code": "kk",
"lang": "Kazakh",
"roman": "baba",
"sense": "holy man, spiritual leader",
"word": "баба"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 0 3 0 93 0 2",
"code": "or",
"lang": "Odia",
"roman": "baba",
"sense": "holy man, spiritual leader",
"word": "ବାବା"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 0 3 0 93 0 2",
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "holy man, spiritual leader",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "baba"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 0 3 0 93 0 2",
"code": "te",
"lang": "Telugu",
"roman": "bābā",
"sense": "holy man, spiritual leader",
"word": "బాబా"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 0 3 0 93 0 2",
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "holy man, spiritual leader",
"word": "baba"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 0 3 0 93 0 2",
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "holy man, spiritual leader",
"word": "peder"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 0 3 0 93 0 2",
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "holy man, spiritual leader",
"tags": [
"plural"
],
"word": "pederler"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 0 3 0 93 0 2",
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "holy man, spiritual leader",
"tags": [
"plural"
],
"word": "babalar"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "British Indian English",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "30 2 8 2 13 20 26",
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Children",
"orig": "en:Children",
"parents": [
"Youth",
"Age",
"People",
"Human",
"Time",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "21 3 9 23 19 12 13",
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Male family members",
"orig": "en:Male family members",
"parents": [
"Family members",
"Male people",
"Family",
"Male",
"People",
"Gender",
"Human",
"Biology",
"Psychology",
"Sociology",
"All topics",
"Sciences",
"Social sciences",
"Fundamental",
"Society"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "27 1 8 1 25 18 19",
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Male people",
"orig": "en:Male people",
"parents": [
"Male",
"People",
"Gender",
"Human",
"Biology",
"Psychology",
"Sociology",
"All topics",
"Sciences",
"Social sciences",
"Fundamental",
"Society"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1876, Sir George Otto Trevelyan, The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1904, Rudyard Kipling, Traffics and Discoveries",
"text": "For my child is dead—my baba is dead!",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A baby, child."
],
"id": "en-baba-en-noun-3H3X8-oi",
"links": [
[
"baby",
"baby"
],
[
"child",
"child"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(British India) A baby, child."
],
"tags": [
"British",
"India"
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "30 2 8 2 13 20 26",
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Children",
"orig": "en:Children",
"parents": [
"Youth",
"Age",
"People",
"Human",
"Time",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "21 3 9 23 19 12 13",
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Male family members",
"orig": "en:Male family members",
"parents": [
"Family members",
"Male people",
"Family",
"Male",
"People",
"Gender",
"Human",
"Biology",
"Psychology",
"Sociology",
"All topics",
"Sciences",
"Social sciences",
"Fundamental",
"Society"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "27 1 8 1 25 18 19",
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Male people",
"orig": "en:Male people",
"parents": [
"Male",
"People",
"Gender",
"Human",
"Biology",
"Psychology",
"Sociology",
"All topics",
"Sciences",
"Social sciences",
"Fundamental",
"Society"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2004, House (TV, episode 1.14)",
"text": "Oh, it's storytime! Let me get my baba."
}
],
"glosses": [
"In baby talk, often used for a variety of words beginning with b, such as bottle or blanket."
],
"id": "en-baba-en-noun-OtN5GrK4",
"links": [
[
"baby talk",
"baby talk"
],
[
"bottle",
"bottle"
],
[
"blanket",
"blanket"
]
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˈbɑːbɑː/",
"note": "variously"
},
{
"ipa": "/ˈbɑːbə/",
"note": "variously"
},
{
"ipa": "/ˈbæbə/",
"note": "variously"
},
{
"rhymes": "-ɑːbɑː"
},
{
"rhymes": "-ɑːbə"
},
{
"rhymes": "-æbə"
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-baba.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/d4/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-baba.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-baba.wav.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/d4/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-baba.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-baba.wav.ogg",
"tags": [
"Southern-England"
],
"text": "Audio (Southern England)"
}
],
"word": "baba"
}
{
"categories": [
"English 2-syllable words",
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English nouns",
"English terms derived from French",
"English terms derived from Old Persian",
"English terms derived from Persian",
"English terms derived from Polish",
"English terms with IPA pronunciation",
"English terms with audio links",
"Rhymes:English/æbə",
"Rhymes:English/æbə/2 syllables",
"Rhymes:English/ɑːbɑː",
"Rhymes:English/ɑːbɑː/2 syllables",
"Rhymes:English/ɑːbə",
"Rhymes:English/ɑːbə/2 syllables",
"en:Cakes and pastries",
"en:Children",
"en:Female family members",
"en:Leaders",
"en:Male family members",
"en:Male people"
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "",
"3": "baba"
},
"expansion": "baba",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "mama"
},
"expansion": "mama",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "papa"
},
"expansion": "papa",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "dada"
},
"expansion": "dada",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "fr",
"3": "-"
},
"expansion": "French",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "pl",
"3": "baba",
"4": "",
"5": "old woman"
},
"expansion": "Polish baba (“old woman”)",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "Ali Baba"
},
"expansion": "Ali Baba",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "fa",
"3": "بابا",
"4": "",
"5": "father",
"tr": "bābā"
},
"expansion": "Persian بابا (bābā, “father”)",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "peo",
"3": "",
"4": "pāpa"
},
"expansion": "Old Persian pāpa",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "ar",
"2": "أَبُو"
},
"expansion": "أَبُو (ʔabū)",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "ar",
"2": "أَب"
},
"expansion": "أَب (ʔab)",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "und",
"2": "papa"
},
"expansion": "papa",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "pope"
},
"expansion": "pope",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "zh",
"2": "爸爸"
},
"expansion": "爸爸",
"name": "m"
}
],
"etymology_text": "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:\n* father: Albanian, Arabic, Western Armenian, Chinese, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, Greek, Marathi, Mingrelian, Nepali, Persian, Swahili, Turkish, Yoruba, Shona, Zulu\n* grandmother: many Slavic languages (such as Bulgarian, Russian, Czech and Polish), Romanian, Yiddish, Japanese\n* grandfather: Azerbaijani, Zulu (father, grandfather)\n* baby: Afrikaans, Sinhala, Hungarian\nThese 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.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "babas",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "nouns",
"3": "plural",
"4": "babas",
"cat2": "countable nouns"
},
"expansion": "baba (plural babas)",
"name": "head"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"related": [
{
"word": "baba au rhum"
},
{
"word": "rhumbaba"
},
{
"word": "rum baba"
},
{
"word": "baba ganoush"
},
{
"word": "babushka"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"glosses": [
"A kind of sponge cake soaked in rum-flavoured syrup."
],
"links": [
[
"sponge cake",
"sponge cake"
],
[
"syrup",
"syrup"
]
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations",
"Quotation templates to be cleaned"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1993, Karen Dubinsky, Improper Advances: Rape and Heterosexual Conflict in Ontario, 1880-1929, University of Chicago Press",
"text": "My baba, Ksenia Dubinsky, tells me that my education makes her proud.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"text": "2001, Brattleboro Remembers, edited by the Brattleboro [Vermont] Historical Society, Arcadia Publishing\nI 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."
},
{
"ref": "2004, MaryBeth Bond, editor, A Woman's Europe: True Stories",
"text": "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;",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A grandmother."
],
"links": [
[
"grandmother",
"grandmother"
]
],
"qualifier": "especially among people of East European ancestry",
"raw_glosses": [
"(especially among people of East European ancestry) A grandmother."
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations",
"Quotation templates to be cleaned"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1914, Russell Sage Foundation, Wage-earning Pittsburgh",
"text": "Only two women, typical \"babas\" (peasant women) in the house from which I got my quilt and bedcloth, could be coaxed to pose;",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1986, Janice Kulyk Keefer, The Paris-Napoli Express",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2003, Colin Michael Hall, Liz Sharples, editors, Food Tourism Around The World: Development, Management and Markets",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"An old woman, especially a traditional old woman from an eastern European culture."
],
"links": [
[
"old woman",
"old woman"
]
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1849, Edward Bulwer Lytton, The Caxtons",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1998, Mulan (movie)",
"text": "\"The greatest gift and honor is having you for a daughter. I've missed you so.\" \"I've missed you too, baba.\""
},
{
"ref": "2002, Bend It Like Beckham (movie)",
"text": "Okay. Okay. Fine, baba. Let's just do it before something else goes wrong."
},
{
"ref": "2003, House of Sand and Fog (movie)",
"text": "\"Do not be disrespectful, son. Look at me.\" \"Baba, were you a Savaki?\""
}
],
"glosses": [
"A father."
],
"links": [
[
"father",
"father"
]
],
"qualifier": "especially among people of Indian or Chinese ancestry",
"raw_glosses": [
"(especially among people of Indian or Chinese ancestry) A father."
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations",
"en:Hinduism",
"en:Islam",
"en:Sikhism"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1995, Hugh J.M. Johnston, Tara Singh Bains, The Four Quarters of the Night: The Life-Journey of an Emigrant Sikh",
"text": "While I was in Port Alberni, three babas came to Canada to raise money ...",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2004, Andrew Robinson, Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye: The Biography of a Master Film-Maker",
"text": "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 ...",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2006, Suraiya Faroqhi, Subjects Of The Sultan: Culture And Daily Life In The Ottoman Empire",
"text": "Most babas had little contact with written culture and are not therefore named in books and treatises.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A holy man, a spiritual leader."
],
"links": [
[
"Hinduism",
"Hinduism"
],
[
"Sikhism",
"Sikhism"
],
[
"holy",
"holy"
],
[
"spiritual",
"spiritual"
],
[
"leader",
"leader"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism) A holy man, a spiritual leader."
],
"tags": [
"Hinduism",
"Sikhism"
],
"topics": [
"Islam",
"lifestyle",
"religion"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"British Indian English",
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1876, Sir George Otto Trevelyan, The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay",
"text": "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.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1904, Rudyard Kipling, Traffics and Discoveries",
"text": "For my child is dead—my baba is dead!",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A baby, child."
],
"links": [
[
"baby",
"baby"
],
[
"child",
"child"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(British India) A baby, child."
],
"tags": [
"British",
"India"
]
},
{
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2004, House (TV, episode 1.14)",
"text": "Oh, it's storytime! Let me get my baba."
}
],
"glosses": [
"In baby talk, often used for a variety of words beginning with b, such as bottle or blanket."
],
"links": [
[
"baby talk",
"baby talk"
],
[
"bottle",
"bottle"
],
[
"blanket",
"blanket"
]
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˈbɑːbɑː/",
"note": "variously"
},
{
"ipa": "/ˈbɑːbə/",
"note": "variously"
},
{
"ipa": "/ˈbæbə/",
"note": "variously"
},
{
"rhymes": "-ɑːbɑː"
},
{
"rhymes": "-ɑːbə"
},
{
"rhymes": "-æbə"
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-baba.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/d4/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-baba.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-baba.wav.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/d4/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-baba.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-baba.wav.ogg",
"tags": [
"Southern-England"
],
"text": "Audio (Southern England)"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "flavoured sponge cake",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "babà"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "flavoured sponge cake",
"word": "baba"
},
{
"code": "el",
"lang": "Greek",
"roman": "bampás",
"sense": "flavoured sponge cake",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "μπαμπάς"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "flavoured sponge cake",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "babà"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "flavoured sponge cake",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "baba"
},
{
"code": "bn",
"lang": "Bengali",
"roman": "baba",
"sense": "holy man, spiritual leader",
"word": "বাবা"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "holy man, spiritual leader",
"word": "isä"
},
{
"code": "kk",
"lang": "Kazakh",
"roman": "baba",
"sense": "holy man, spiritual leader",
"word": "баба"
},
{
"code": "or",
"lang": "Odia",
"roman": "baba",
"sense": "holy man, spiritual leader",
"word": "ବାବା"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "holy man, spiritual leader",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "baba"
},
{
"code": "te",
"lang": "Telugu",
"roman": "bābā",
"sense": "holy man, spiritual leader",
"word": "బాబా"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "holy man, spiritual leader",
"word": "baba"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "holy man, spiritual leader",
"word": "peder"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "holy man, spiritual leader",
"tags": [
"plural"
],
"word": "pederler"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "holy man, spiritual leader",
"tags": [
"plural"
],
"word": "babalar"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "holy man, spiritual leader",
"word": "peder"
}
],
"word": "baba"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-13 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-01 using wiktextract (ee658f9 and be4df6b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.