babe

See also: Babe, babë, babę, and Ba Bể

English

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /beɪb/, enPR: bāb
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -eɪb

Noun

babe (plural babes)

(literary or poetic) A baby or infant; a very young human or animal.
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,
(slang) An attractive person, especially a young woman.
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.
(endearing) Darling (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:
  But, Babe, you don't have to meet 'em if you don't want to.