baba

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:

• father: Megrelian, Albanian, Arabic, Western Armenian, Chinese, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, Greek, Marathi, Nepali, Persian, Swahili, Turkish, Yoruba, Shona, Zulu
• grandmother: many Slavic languages (such as Bulgarian, Russian, Czech and Polish), Romanian, Yiddish, Japanese
• grandfather: Azerbaijani, Zulu (father, grandfather)
• baby: Afrikaans, Sinhala, Hungarian

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 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 (ʾabū) and أَب (ʾab); 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.

• IPA^(key): (variously) /ˈbɑːbɑː/, /ˈbɑːbə/, /ˈbæbə/

• Audio (Berkshire, UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːbɑː, -ɑːbə, -æbə

baba (plural babas)

1. A kind of sponge cake soaked in rum-flavoured syrup.
2. (especially among people of East European ancestry) A grandmother.
   • 1993, Karen Dubinsky, Improper Advances: Rape and Heterosexual Conflict in Ontario, 1880-1929, University of Chicago Press

     My baba, Ksenia Dubinsky, tells me that my education makes her proud.

   • 2001, Brattleboro Remembers, edited by the Brattleboro [Vermont] Historical Society, Arcadia Publishing

     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.

   • 2004, A Woman's Europe: True Stories, edited by MaryBeth Bond

     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;

3. An old woman, especially a traditional old woman from an eastern European culture.
   • 1914, Russell Sage Foundation, Wage-earning Pittsburgh:

     Only two women, typical "babas" (peasant women) in the house from which I got my quilt and bedcloth, could be coaxed to pose;

   • 1986, Janice Kulyk Keefer, The Paris-Napoli Express:

     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.

   • 2003, Food Tourism Around The World: Development, Management and Markets, edited by Colin Michael Hall and Liz Sharples

     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.

4. (especially among people of Indian or Chinese ancestry) A father.
   • 1849, Edward Bulwer Lytton, The Caxtons:

     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.

   • 1998, Mulan (movie)

     "The greatest gift and honor is having you for a daughter. I've missed you so." "I've missed you too, baba."

   • 2002, Bend It Like Beckham (movie)

     Okay. Okay. Fine, baba. Let's just do it before something else goes wrong.

   • 2003, House of Sand and Fog (movie)

     "Do not be disrespectful, son. Look at me." "Baba, were you a Savaki?"

5. (Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism) A holy man, a spiritual leader.
   • 1995, Hugh J.M. Johnston and Tara Singh Bains, The Four Quarters of the Night: The Life-Journey of an Emigrant Sikh:

     While I was in Port Alberni, three babas came to Canada to raise money ...

   • 2004, Andrew Robinson, Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye: The Biography of a Master Film-Maker:

     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 ...

   • 2006, Suraiya Faroqhi, Subjects Of The Sultan: Culture And Daily Life In The Ottoman Empire:

     Most babas had little contact with written culture and are not therefore named in books and treatises.

6. (British India) A baby, child.
   • 1876, Sir George Otto Trevelyan, The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay:

     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.

   • 1904, Rudyard Kipling, Traffics and Discoveries:

     For my child is dead—my baba is dead!

7. In baby talk, often used for a variety of words beginning with b, such as bottle or blanket.
   • 2004, House (TV, episode 1.14)

     Oh, it's storytime! Let me get my baba.

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

• baba on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• AABB, Abba, abba

• Audio

  (file)

baba (plural babas)

1. baby

• babetjie

baba (present baba, present participle babaende, past participle gebaba)

1. to treat with gentle care, to coddle

• babai

Definite form of babë (“dad, daddy, father”). From Proto-Albanian *baba, from Proto-Indo-European *baba (“barbaric speech”). See babë (“dad, daddy, father”) for more.

• IPA^(key): [baba] (Tosk)
• IPA^(key): [bɑba] (Gheg)

baba m (definite singular baba, definite plural babët, ​ baballarët)

1. the dad, the daddy
2. (usually childish) the father
3. (usually childish) the grandpa

• atë (“father”)
• babai (“dad, daddy”)

• Baba Dimri

• IPA^(key): /baba/

baba (Bengali script বাবা)

1. father
2. paternal uncle
3. son

(father):

• awa
• wa•

• van Breugel, Seino. 2015. Atong-English dictionary, second edition. Available online: https://www.academia.edu/487044/Atong_English_Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): [bɑˈbɑ]
• Hyphenation: ba‧ba

• Audio (Baku)

  (file)

baba (definite accusative babanı, plural babalar)

1. grandfather

   Coordinate term: nənə

From Proto-Basque, ultimately from Latin faba.

• IPA^(key): /baba/, [ba.β̞a]

baba inan

1. broad bean
2. bean, green bean

   Synonym: babarrun

3. blister

• "baba" in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy], euskaltzaindia.eus
• “baba” in Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia [General Basque Dictionary], euskaltzaindia.eus

Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *babaq, from Proto-Austronesian *babaq.

• Hyphenation: ba‧ba
• IPA^(key): /baˈbaʔ/

babâ

1. downstairs

   Antonym: taas

babâ

1. shortness, lowness (based on height)

   Antonym: langkaw

2. (dialectal) bottom; below

   Antonym: babaw

3. descent

   Synonym: palos

4. disembarkment

   Synonym: lusad

5. act of going downstairs

   Synonym: hilig

6. decrease; lowering of quantity or measurement

   Synonym: ina

• Hyphenation: ba‧ba
• IPA^(key): /ˈbabaʔ/

babà

1. (anatomy) chin

   Synonym: kuko

From padaba (“loved one, term of endearment”).

• Hyphenation: ba‧ba
• IPA^(key): /ˈbabaʔ/

babà

1. (Tabaco–Legazpi–Sorsogon, slang) loved one

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *baqbaq. First attested in Antonio Pigafetta's Relazione del primo viaggio intorno al mondo—detailing the first circumnavigation of the world between 1519 and 1522.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaʔbaʔ/, [ˈbaʔbʌʔ]
• Rhymes: -aʔ
• Hyphenation: ba‧ba

bâbâ

1. (anatomy) mouth
2. mouth of a river
3. outlet; aperture; orifice
4. talk; empty boasting, promises or claims

bâbâ

1. to hit, be hit or injured in the mouth

• baba sa atay
• babaan
• babaon
• sa baba sa buaya

Compare abaga.

• IPA^(key): /baˈba/, [bʌˈba]
• Rhymes: -a
• Hyphenation: ba‧ba

babá

1. to piggyback; to carry someone on the back

For quotations using this term, see Citations:baba.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

baba

1. father
2. dad

• bába

From Proto-Slavic *baba.

• IPA^(key): [ˈbaba]
• Rhymes: -aba

baba f

1. crone, hag
2. coward, milksop

   Synonym: → zbabělec

3. (informal) girl, chick

• baba in Kartotéka Novočeského lexikálního archivu
• baba in Akademický slovník současné češtiny, 2012-, slovnikcestiny.cz
• baba in Internetová jazyková příručka

Unknown.

baba (plural babanima)

1. Title of the second chief butcher

baba

1. plural of babli (a featherless fowl)

baba

1. Father

baba

1. termite, white ant[1]

From Zulu ubaba, from Proto-Bantu *bààbá.

baba

1. father

From Polish baba, probably via French.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɑbɑ/, [ˈbɑbɑ]
• Rhymes: -ɑbɑ
• Syllabification^(key): ba‧ba

baba

1. baba, babka (type of cake)

• IPA^(key): /ba.ba/

Borrowed from Polish baba, introduced in France in the eighteenth century at the court of Stanisław Leszczyński, king of Poland, duke of Lorraine and father-in-law of Louis XV.

baba m (plural babas)

1. baba (type of cake)

   baba au rhum ― rum baba

Onomatopoeic.

baba (plural babas)

1. (colloquial) flabbergasted
   • 1999, Anna Gavalda, “Ambre”, in Je voudrais que quelqu'un m'attende quelque part, →ISBN:

     C'était un Argentin qui mesurait au moins deux mètres, il souriait tout les temps. J'étais baba devant ses tatouages.

     (please add an English translation of this quote)

• “baba”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Attested since the 18th century. From the hypothesized Vulgar Latin *baba, ultimately imitative of children speech on the pattern of the repeated syllable ba.

• IPA^(key): [ˈbaβɐ]

baba f (plural babas)

1. drool

   Synonym: baballa

2. slime (mucus-like substance which exudes from the bodies of certain animals)

   Synonym: baballa

• baballa
• babar
• babexar

• “baba” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “baba” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “baba” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

Likely from Bengali বাবা (baba)

baba

1. father

• paa
• pagipa
• apa

A link of the term with the English bye-bye is possible but not certain.

• Rhymes: -aː

baba

1. (informal, chiefly in Austria) see you, so long

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

• “baba” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “baba (Abschiedsgruß)” in Duden online
• “baba (schmutzig, eklig)” in Duden online

From Turkish baba.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaba/

baba (indeclinable, predicative only)

1. (slang) boss, rad, fly

   Diese Jacke sieht richtig baba aus.

   This jacket looks bare nang.

   Ich finde den Schnitt baba.

   I deem the fit thrilling.

   Synonyms: Bombe, geisteskrank

A widespread areal word.

• IPA^(key): /bàː.bá/
  • (Standard Kano Hausa) IPA^(key): [bàː.bə́]

bā̀ba m (possessed form bā̀ban)

1. father
2. Used as a term of address for a man of appropriate age to be one's father, or who shares one's father's name.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): /bàː.báː/
  • (Standard Kano Hausa) IPA^(key): [bàː.báː]

bā̀bā m (plural bā̀bànni, possessed form bā̀ban)

1. eunuch
2. impotent man

Probably an early borrowing from Kanuri báwà (“paternal aunt”).

• IPA^(key): /báː.bà/
  • (Standard Kano Hausa) IPA^(key): [báː.bə̀]

bābà f (possessed form bābàr̃)

1. paternal aunt

• Hausa vocabulary. In: Haspelmath, M. & Tadmor, U. (eds.) World Loanword Database. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): /báː.báː/
  • (Standard Kano Hausa) IPA^(key): [báː.báː]

bābā m (possessed form bāban)

1. indigo (the plant, or the dye from it)

baba

1. mouth

bába or bâbâ

1. mouth

An onomatopoeia.[1] It may be a doublet of báb.

• IPA^(key): [ˈbɒbɒ]

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ba‧ba
• Rhymes: -bɒ

baba (plural babák)

1. doll (toy in the form of a human)
2. baby, infant (very young human child, particularly from birth until walking is mastered)

   Synonyms: csecsemő, kisbaba, bébi

3. (in the possessive, folk songs) baby, darling (term of endearment for a girlfriend, or less often, a boyfriend)

   Synonyms: kedves, (also in the possessive) pár

baba (comparative babább, superlative legbabább)

1. (slang) swell, neat (exceptionally good, pleasing or enjoyable)

• baba in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
• baba in Ittzés, Nóra (ed.). A magyar nyelv nagyszótára (’A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published A–ez as of 2023)

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *babaq.

• Hyphenation: ba‧ba
• IPA^(key): /baˈba/, [bɐˈba]

baba

1. below

   Adda idiay baba

   It's down there.

baba

1. Rōmaji transcription of ばば

baba m

1. father

• baaba

• IPA^(key): /βàːβǎꜜ/

The first a is pronounced long.[1]

As for Tonal Class, Benson (1964) classifies this term into Class 6 with a disyllabic stem, together with mũgwacĩ, nyamũ, and so on.

• (Kiambu)

• (Limuru) As for Tonal Class, Yukawa (1981) classifies this term into a group including guka, gũtũ, mũguĩ, mũtwe, nyamũ, ruo, rũhĩ (pl. hĩ), rũkũ (pl. ngũ), taata (“my aunt”), ũta (pl. mota), ũthiũ (pl. mothiũ), and so on.[2]

• (Ndia) The same underlying pattern as that of rũhĩ and mothiũ.[3]
• (Nyeri) The same underlying pattern as that of mothiũ and ruo.[3]

baba class 1

1. my father, dad

• (thy) thoguo; (his/her) ithe

Borrowed from a Slavic language, from Proto-Slavic *baba. Doublet of buoba.

• IPA^(key): [ˈbaba]
• Hyphenation: ba‧ba

baba f (diminutive babeņa)

1. grandmother

• (dialectal) vace

• dzeds (“grandfather”)

• A. Andronov; L. Leikuma (2008) Latgalīšu-Latvīšu-Krīvu sarunu vuordineica, Lvava, →ISBN, page 10

From Proto-Slavic *baba.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaba/

baba f (diminutive babka)

1. midwife
2. old woman
3. woman
4. sponge cake

• Muka, Arnošt (1921, 1928), “baba”, in Słownik dolnoserbskeje rěcy a jeje narěcow (in German), St. Petersburg, Prague: ОРЯС РАН, ČAVU; Reprinted Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag, 2008
• Starosta, Manfred (1999), “baba”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag

baba

1. father

Voiced bapa.

• (Johor-Selangor) IPA^(key): /babə/
• (Riau-Lingga) IPA^(key): /baba/
• Rhymes: -abə, -bə, -ə

baba (plural baba-baba, informal 1st possessive babaku, 2nd possessive babamu, 3rd possessive babanya)

1. father (male parent)

• bapa (bapanda, bapai, bapak, bapang, papa)
• ayah (ayahanda, aya, yah)
• abah (aba, bah)
• rama

• → Chinese: 爸爸[1]

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *babaq.

baba

1. below

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *baqbaq.

baba

1. mouth

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *baba, compare Malay bawa.

baba

1. to carry

• (phonetic) IPA^(key): [pˠɑːbˠɑ], (enunciated) [pˠɑ pˠɑ]
• (phonemic) IPA^(key): /pˠæɰpˠæɰ/
• Bender phonemes: {bahbah}

baba

1. father
2. daddy

• Marshallese–English Online Dictionary

baba

1. father

   La katskats tasàk à kəslah iyaw aŋatà à ahəŋ la baba aŋatà gà, tanəfà Yesu. (Mata 4:22)

   And immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Jesus. (Matthew 4:22)

• wawa

From Proto-Bantu *bààbá.

baba class 1a (plural wababa)

1. father

From Assamese বাবা (baba, “father”), Inherited from Ashokan Prakrit *𑀩𑀸𑀩𑁆𑀩 (*bābba).

baba (plural babakhan)

1. father, dad

Synonym: bap

baba

1. water
2. rain, rainwater

• Aboriginal Languages of the Pilbara: Ngarluma (1990); HG

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *baba, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *bā́ˀbāˀ, from nursery language. First attested in 1393.

baba f

1. grandma (parent's mother)

   Synonym: babina

2. grandma (any old woman)
3. woman
4. fortune teller
5. midwife
6. pear (Pyrus communis)
7. (in the plural, astronomy) Pleiades

• Polish: baba

• B. Sieradzka-Baziur, editor (2011–2015), “baba”, in Słownik pojęciowy języka staropolskiego [Conceptual Dictionary of Old Polish] (in Polish), Kraków: IJP PAN, →ISBN

From Proto-Bantu *-bába.

-baba

1. to taste bitter

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

• IPA^(key): /ˈba.ba/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aba
• Syllabification: ba‧ba

Inherited from Old Polish baba, from Proto-Slavic *baba, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *bā́ˀbāˀ, from nursery language. First attested in 1393.[1]

baba f (diminutive babka or babcia, augmentative babsko or babisko)

1. (colloquial, somewhat derogatory) woman, crone, hag
2. (colloquial) wife, girlfriend
3. village woman (woman from the village)

   Synonyms: chłopka, wieśniaczka

4. (childish) grandmother

   Synonyms: babcia, babka, babunia

5. village seller (woman who sells things from the village)
6. (derogatory) pansy, big girl's blouse (male of weak or cowardly character)
7. babka (type of cake)

   Synonym: babka

8. (engineering) hydraulic hammer of a pile driver

Borrowed from Persian بابا‎.

baba m pers

1. (Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism) baba (a holy man, a spiritual leader)

• baba in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• baba in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• “baba”, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish], 2010-2022
• Paweł Kupiszewski (18.07.2022), “BABA”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century]
• Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807-1814), “baba”, in Słownik języka polskiego
• Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861), “baba”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861
• J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1900), “baba”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), volume 1, Warsaw, page 77
• Brückner, Aleksander (1927), “baba”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego [Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language] (in Polish), Warsaw: Wiedza Powszechna

From the hypothesized Vulgar Latin *baba, ultimately imitative of children speech on the pattern of the repeated syllable ba.

• Rhymes: -abɐ
• Hyphenation: ba‧ba

baba f (plural babas)

1. drool, dribble
2. (vulgar, slang) Cowper's fluid; pre-ejaculate

• babar-se

baba

1. inflection of babar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

baba

1. mouth

• IPA^(key): [ˈba.ba]

baba

1. definite singular of babă

Cognate with Azerbaijani baba.

• IPA^(key): [pɑpɑ]

baba

1. grandfather

• 林 (Lin), 莲云 (Lianyun) (1985), “baba”, in 撒拉语简志 [A Brief History of Salar], Beijing: 民族出版社: 琴書店, OCLC 17467570, page 126
• Ma, Chengjun; Han, Lianye; Ma, Weisheng (December 2010), “baba”, in 米娜瓦尔 艾比布拉 (Minavar Abibra), editor, 撒维汉词典 (Sāwéihàncídiǎn) [Salar-Uyghur-Chinese dictionary], 1st edition, Beijing, →ISBN, page 30

From Proto-Slavic *baba.

• IPA^(key): /bâba/
• Hyphenation: ba‧ba

bȁba f (Cyrillic spelling ба̏ба)

1. (regional) grandmother
2. granny, grandma
3. (usually derogatory) old woman, hag
4. (derogatory) female person

• (grandmother; grandma): báka, nena

• “baba” in Hrvatski jezični portal

From Proto-Bantu *bààbá.

babá class 1a (plural vababá class 2)

1. father
2. (Christianity) father (priest)

   Synonym: fata

From Proto-Slavic *baba.

• IPA^(key): [ˈbaba]

baba f (genitive singular baby, nominative plural baby, genitive plural báb, declension pattern of žena)

1. (colloquial) old woman
2. (colloquial) girl
3. (dated) midwife
4. (dated) doll
5. (dated) puppet
6. (dated) hash brown zemiaková baba, now zemiaková placka

• babský (adj)
• babsky (adv)
• babisko

• baba in Slovak dictionaries at slovnik.juls.savba.sk

From Proto-Slavic *baba.

• IPA^(key): /bàːba/

baba f

1. old woman, hag

• bábica

• “baba”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran

From Proto-Bantu *-bába.

-bába

1. to be bitter

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

From the hypothesized Vulgar Latin *baba (“drooling, infantile talk”), ultimately imitative of children speech on the pattern of the repeated syllable ba.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaba/ [ˈba.β̞a]
• Rhymes: -aba
• Syllabification: ba‧ba

baba f (plural babas)

1. drool, dribble

   La chacha lavaba, y mientras lavaba, la baba se le caía.

   The maid washed, and as she washed, she drooled.

2. slime
3. (Venezuela) baby alligator, caiman or crocodile

• cieno
• lama

• “baba”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

From Proto-Bantu *bààbá.

• Audio (Kenya)

  (file)

baba (n class, plural baba)

1. father (male parent)

   baba mkwe ― father-in-law

   baba wa kambo ― step father

• mama

• ubaba

From Proto-Bantu *-bába.

-bába

1. (intransitive) to taste bitter

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *babaq, from Proto-Austronesian *babaq.

• Hyphenation: ba‧ba
• IPA^(key): /ˈbabaʔ/, [ˈbɐ.bɐʔ]

babà (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜊ)

1. (anatomy) chin

   Synonym: (Marinduque) sihang

2. lowness; low height

• Hyphenation: ba‧ba
• IPA^(key): /baˈbaʔ/, [bɐˈbaʔ]

babâ (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜊ)

1. descent; going down

   Synonyms: lapag, lunsad, lusong, (of stairs) panaog

2. getting off; alighting (from a vehicle or animal)
3. downstairs; basement

   Synonyms: ibaba, lapag

4. decrease; lowering (of quantity or measurement)
5. fruit picking in season

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *baba, from Proto-Austronesian *baba.

• Hyphenation: ba‧ba
• IPA^(key): /baˈba/, [bɐˈba]

babá (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜊ)

1. piggyback
2. coitus of animals

   Synonym: kasta

babá (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜊ)

1. carried piggyback

baba

1. father

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

baba m (Tifinagh spelling ⴱⴰⴱⴰ)

1. father

• IPA^(key): [ˈba.ba]

baba

1. father

   Synonym: aba

• Rika Hayami-Allen (2001). A Descriptive Study of the Language of Ternate, the Northern Moluccas, Indonesia. University of Pittsburgh.

From Ottoman Turkish بابا, Nişanyan suggests the current word is a result of onomatopoeia found commonly in many languages. First attested in 13th century.

Cognate with Kazakh баба (baba), Bashkir баба (baba), Uzbek bobo, Uyghur بابا (baba), بوۋا (bowa), Turkmen baba, Azerbaijani baba (“grandfather”), etc.

• IPA^(key): /bɑˈbɑ/
• Hyphenation: ba‧ba

baba (definite accusative babayı, plural babalar)

1. father
2. Bektashi saint (as in Gül Baba)
3. bollard
4. (slang) crime boss
5. (slang) penis, dick