Babe

Pronunciation

• IPA: /beɪb/, enPR: bāb
• Rhymes: -eɪb

Origin

From Middle English babe, perhaps a variant of earlier baban or representing Old English *baba ("boy, child"), from Proto-Germanic *babô, reduplicated variant of *ba-, *bō- ("father, brother, close male relation"), related to Old Frisian bobba ("child"), Swedish dialectal babbe ("little boy"), 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 mutated from maban diminutive of mab ("son"), is probably rather a borrowing from the English.

Whitney, The Century dictionary and cylcopedia, babe.

Full definition of babe

Noun

1. (literary or poetic) A baby or infant; a very young human or animal.These events came to pass when he was but a babe.
2. (slang) An attractive person, especially a young woman.She's a real babe!
3. Darling (term of endearment).Hey, babe, how's about you and me getting together?

Synonyms

• (infant) baby, child, infant
• (attractive person)
• (woman) hottie, doll, fox
• See:
• (darling) darling, dear, love, sweetheart

Derived terms

• bikini babe
• babe magnet
• out of the mouths of babes

Related terms

• baby

Anagrams

• abbe, abbé