babu

English

Alternative forms

• baboo (dated)

Etymology

From several Indian languages like Malayalam (ബാബു), Telugu (బాబు), Hindi बाबू (bābū).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɑːbuː/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

babu (plural babus) (India, Hinglish)

1. A Hindu title of respect, equivalent to Mr., usually appended to the surname of a Hindu man
   • 1989, Amitav Ghosh, Shadow Lines:

     I could see Kana-babu’s sweet-shop at the end of their lane with absolute clarity.

2. (Originally) a Hindu gentleman employed to work as a clerk for the colonial administration; now, a clerk or low-ranking government official.
   • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, “His Chance in Life”, in Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio, published 2005, page 57:

     The Babu put on his cap and quietly dropped out of the window

   • 1934 October, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], “Chapter 2”, in Burmese Days, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, →OCLC:

     Office babus are the real rulers of this country now. Our number's up. Best thing we can do is to shut up shop and let 'em stew in their own juice.

   • 2014, James Lambert, “Diachronic stability in Indian English lexis”, in World Englishes, page 116:

     From the prevailing colonial perspective, the English of the babus was error-ridden and characterised by over-elaborate ornateness, and for these ‘transgressions’ it became the butt of native-speaker ridicule.

Derived terms

• babu English
• babudom
• babuism

Brunei Malay

Etymology

From Javanese ꦧꦧꦸ (babu, “female servant”, literally “mother”), from Old Javanese babu (“mother; older servant”), wawuh (“familiar, acquainted”). Compare Portuguese babo.

Noun

babu

1. A mother.

   Synonym: mama

2. An aunt.
3. Term for any middle-aged or elderly woman.

Bunun

Etymology

From Proto-Austronesian *babuy.

Noun

babu

1. pig (livestock)

Indonesian

Alternative forms

• babo (dated)

Etymology

Inherited from Malay babu, from Javanese ꦧꦧꦸ (babu, “female servant”, literally “mother”), from Old Javanese babu (“mother; older servant”), wawuh (“familiar, acquainted”). Compare Portuguese babo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbabu/
• Hyphenation: ba‧bu
• Rhymes: -bu, -u

Noun

babu (plural babu-babu, first-person possessive babuku, second-person possessive babumu, third-person possessive babunya)

1. housemaid

Derived terms

See also

• jongos

Further reading

• “babu” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.

Jarawa

Etymology

From Hindi बाबू (bābū). Cognate to Önge babu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /babu/

Noun

babu

1. official, officer (of the Indian government of the Andamans)

References

• Kumar, Pramod (2012) Descriptive and Typological Study of Jarawa (PhD). Jawaharlal Nehru University. Page 111, 141, 187.

Javanese

Romanization

babu

1. Romanization of ꦧꦧꦸ

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

babu

1. accusative/instrumental singular of baba

Old Javanese

Etymology

Unknown, probably from Proto-Mon-Khmer *(ʔ)boʔ (“mother”) (compare Temiar buk (“mother”), Jehai baboʔ (“woman”), Vietnamese vợ (“wife”), and Mon ၝောံ (bɜ̀ʔ)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ba.bu/
• Rhymes: -bu
• Hyphenation: ba‧bu

Noun

babu

1. mother

   Synonyms: babu, bibi, ibu, iduṅ, ina, inaṅ, induṅ, janmayoni, mātā, matuh, rena

2. older servant

Derived terms

Descendants

• > Javanese: ꦧꦧꦸ (babu) (inherited)
  • → Brunei Malay: babu
  • → Malay: babu
  • → Indonesian: babu
• → Balinese: ᬩᬩᬸ (babu)

Further reading

• "babu" in P.J. Zoetmulder with the collaboration of S.O. Robson, Old Javanese-English Dictionary. 's-Gravenhage: M. Nijhoff, 1982.

Serbo-Croatian

Noun

babu (Cyrillic spelling бабу)

1. accusative singular of baba

Shabo

Adjective

babu

1. two

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

babu

1. accusative singular of baba

Swahili

Swahili Wikipedia has an article on:

babu

Wikipedia ^sw

Pronunciation

• Audio (Kenya)

  (file)

Noun

babu (n class, plural babu)

1. grandfather (from either side)

Coordinate terms

• bibi

Tagalog

Alternative forms

• vavu

Etymology

A play on babay or English bye-bye.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baˈbu/,
• Hyphenation: ba‧bu

Interjection

babú (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜊᜓ)

1. (slang) goodbye; ta ta

   Synonyms: paalam, babay

Ternate

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Verb

babu (Jawi بابو)

1. (intransitive) (of humans) to fall

   Synonym: doro (of non-humans)

   ngofa ibabu ― children fall

   ibabu toma kaha ― they fell on the ground

2. (intransitive) to be overthrown

Conjugation

References

• Frederik Sigismund Alexander de Clercq (1890) Bijdragen tot de kennis der Residentie Ternate, E.J. Brill
• Rika Hayami-Allen (2001) A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh

Veps

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *papu. The initial b- was introduced by analogy with Russian боб (bob).

Noun

babu

1. bean

Inflection

References

• Zajceva, N. G., Mullonen, M. I. (2007) “боб”, in Uz’ venä-vepsläine vajehnik / Novyj russko-vepsskij slovarʹ [New Russian–Veps Dictionary]‎, Petrozavodsk: Periodika

Yindjibarndi

Noun

babu

1. father