baby

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See also: Baby

English

Etymology

A human baby
A baby monkey
A baby elephant (sometimes called a calf)

From Middle English baby, babie (“baby”), a diminutive form of babe (“babe, baby”), equivalent to babe +‎ -y/-ie (“endearing and diminutive suffix”). Perhaps ultimately imitative of baby talk (compare babble). [1]

Pronunciation

Noun

baby (plural babies)

  1. A very young human, particularly from birth to a couple of years old or until walking is fully mastered.
    • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XLIV, page 67:
      The baby new to earth and sky,
      ⁠What time his tender palm is prest
      ⁠Against the circle of the breast,
      Has never thought that ‘this is I:’ […]
    • 2017 January 19, Peter Bradshaw, “T2 Trainspotting review – choose a sequel that doesn't disappoint”, in The Guardian‎[1]:
      In that film, I often hid my head in my hands, unable to watch scenes about dead babies and diving into gruesome lavatories.
  2. A very young human, even if not yet born.
    When is your baby due?
    Her baby had always been active, even before he was born, when he would kick her bladder.
    • 2013 June 7, Natalie Pierce, Weaving My Way Through Life, Author House, →ISBN, page 44:
      Karen went to England to have her baby several months before he was born so he would have the medication she needed before the baby was born and she wanted the doctors she was used to when she lived there. It would be cheaper to have the baby in England. Karen named the baby Bill Joseph […] He laughed a lot and loved his bath which he took in a plastic baby tub.
  3. Any very young animal, especially a vertebrate; many species have specific names for their babies, such as kittens for the babies of cats, puppies for the babies of dogs, and chicks for the babies of birds. See Category:Baby animals for more.
  4. A person who is immature, infantile or feeble.
    Stand up for yourself – don't be such a baby!
  5. A person who is new to or inexperienced in something.
    I only qualified as an architect this summer, so I'm still a baby.
  6. The lastborn of a family; the youngest sibling, irrespective of age.
    Adam is the baby of the family.
    • 1895, S. R. Crockett, A Cry Across the Black Water:
      "You are very dull this morning, Sheriff," said the youngest daughter of the house, who, being the baby and pretty, had grown pettishly privileged in speech.
    • 1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, →OCLC, page 114:
      "He's a year older than me." "You're the baby, eh?"
  7. A person's romantic partner; a term of endearment used to refer to or address one's girlfriend, boyfriend or spouse.
    Too busy thinking about my baby, and I ain't got time for nothing else.
    Baby, don't cry.
    • 1956, “Heartbreak Hotel”, Mae Boren Axton, Tommy Durden, Elvis Presley (lyrics), performed by Elvis Presley:
      Well, since my baby left me,
      Well, I found a new place to dwell.
      Well, it's down at the end of Lonely Street
      At Heartbreak Hotel.
  8. (informal) A form of address to a person considered to be attractive.
    Hey baby, what are you doing later?
  9. A concept or creation endeared by its creator.
    This test program I've designed is my new baby.
  10. A pet project or responsibility.
    You need to talk to John about that – it's his baby.
    • 1996, Orlando Figes, A People's Tragedy, Folio Society, published 2015, page 902:
      Sovnarkom was Lenin's baby, it was where he focused all his energies […].
  11. An affectionate term for anything.
    See my new car here? I can't wait to take this baby for a drive.
  12. (archaic) A small image of an infant; a doll.
  13. (often attributive) One who is new to an identity or community.
    • 2020, Nina Kahn, The Joy of Hex: Modern Spells Without All the Bullsh*t‎[2], unnumbered page:
      These more general spells and rituals can also be helpful for baby witches, who might want more time to practice before they hop into highly-specific spells.
    • 2020, Jane Kolven, The Holiday Detour, unnumbered page:
      That was even worse than blurting my sexuality like I had when I was what we called a “baby dyke” in college, desperate to find other lesbians for friendship or more.
    • 2021, Yve Rees, quoted in Sam Elkin & Yve Rees, "Spilling the T", Bent Street: Australian LGBTIQA+ Arts, Writing & Ideas, Volume 5, Issue 1, unnumbered page:
      As someone who is still a 'baby trans', these collaborations have taught me so much about what it means to live outside cisnormativity.

Synonyms

Descendants

Descendants
  • → Cornish: babi
  • → Danish: baby
  • → Dutch: baby
  • → Finnish: baby
  • → French: baby
  • → French: bébé
  • → German: Baby
    • → Lower Sorbian: baby
    • → Upper Sorbian: baby
  • → Interlingua: baby
  • → Italian: baby
  • → Norwegian Bokmål: baby
  • → Norwegian Nynorsk: baby
  • → South Slavey: bebí
  • → Spanish: baby
  • → Swedish: baby
  • → Vietnamese: bé bi

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also

Adjective

baby (comparative babier or babyer or baby-er, superlative babiest or babyest or baby-est)

  1. (of vegetables, etc.) Picked when small and immature (as in baby corn, baby potatoes).
  2. Newest (overall, or in some group or state); most inexperienced.
    • 1894, Marion Harland, The Royal Road, Or, Taking Him at His Word, page 136:
      Mrs. Paull held out her hand to the babyest of the quartette, as they tiptoed up to the bed. “Lift her up, please, Marie!” she said, motioning to the place enclosed by her arm. When the rosy cheek touched hers upon the pillow, she asked ...
    • 1910, Marion Harland, Marion Harland's Autobiography: The Story of a Long Life, page 408:
      That evening, we grouped about the fire in the parlor, a wide circle that left room for the babyest of the party to disport themselves upon the rug, in the glow of the grate piled with cannel coal.
    • 2006, Marion Halligan, The Apricot Colonel, Allen & Unwin, →ISBN:
      Of when I was a baby editor. Very baby, it was actually a kind of work experience, I was still at university but I knew what I wanted. With a small independent publisher, good reputation, did some marvellous books, […]
    • 2020, Hannah Abigail Clarke, The Scapegracers, Erewhon, →ISBN, page 391:
      […] party for Halloween proper? Just the four of us and some goofy, spooky kids' movies, you know? Some cute pumpkin-shaped cupcakes? I could make my dog a little costume. He could be a baby witch. The babyest Scapegracer.” I blinked.
  3. (in the comparative or superlative) Like or pertaining to a baby, in size or youth; small, young.
    • 1888, Monthly Packet, page 170:
      Spider. Here let us begin at the beginning, at the babyest of books for Edith's nursery.
    • 1894, Edith E. Cuthell, Two Little Children and Ching, page 107:
      She let it drop out of her sleeve, and it was two Chings — the dearest, littlest, babyest, tiny Chings — little balls of fur! And she ran away, and daddy's father picked them up, and put them in his pockets, and brought them home, […]
    • 1908, Marion Harland, Housekeeper's Guide and Family Physician, page 98:
      Lemon-juice for ink spots: Not many weeks ago the babyest member of our household - perhaps moved by a hereditary tendency toward ink - slinging - divided the contents of an ink bottle impartially between the tiles of the bath-room floor ...
    • 1908, Mary Findlater, Jane Helen Findlater, Crossriggs, page 25:
      "There's a babier baby than Mike," she said. "But you will see her to-morrow. Aren't we rich? Come in and see Matilda - you won't find her much changed. It's so absurd to see her with all these children."
    • 1936, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Military Affairs, To Promote the National Defense by Stengthening the Air Reserve, Hearings ..., on H.R. 4348, 12241, Feb 27, April 22, 1936, page 31:
      Now, we all believe in national defense, but we also believe in peacetime activity, and my personal idea about aviation is that it is still in its absolute “babyest” type of infancy, that it is nothing even approaching what it will be even 10 years [from now].
    • 1937 August 7, “Recreation Activities in City Attain New Peak in Past Week”, in The State Journal, eighty-third year, Lansing, Mich., section “Doll Show at Allen”, page 2, column 7:
      A doll show held the attention of children at Allen as a special feature during the week. Winners were: […] baby-est doll, Betty McQueary.
    • 1940 October 22, Charles P. Stewart, “Washington At A Glance”, in The Evening Independent, volume LXXIV, number 130, Massillon, Oh., page five, column 2:
      He’ll [Joseph H. Ball] be our baby senator for the next two years. Senator Rush D. Holt of West Virginia will be his baby rival briefly, but Rush is a lame duck. He’ll be out of the picture at the end of the year and Joe will be the baby-est of them all.
    • 1960 August 4, Herb Smith, “Recreation In Cedar Grove”, in Verona-Cedar Grove Times, volume XII, number 31, Verona, N.J., page 26, column 2:
      The victorious individuals were as follows: Doll Contest— […] “baby-est,” 1st, Mary Grew, 2nd, Susan Shamlian;
    • 2007 August 2, Liz Nicholls, “Gala to mark Teatro’s entry into the quarter-century club”, in Edmonton Journal, Edmonton, Alta., page D3, column 1:
      One of them, Allure Potemkin (and don’t you wish that was your name?), hikes up her slip and does a riotous dance number called Baby Legs. Leona Brausen, whose own dimpled gams — “baby-er than ever” as she says — inspired the role, is back onstage Saturday to dance the dance for the last time.

Further reading

  • Raphael Sappan (1987) The Rhetorical-logical Classification of Semantic Changes, volume 5, page 58: “Baby. In its attributive uses, the word has the meaning 'small, tiny'. In the following sentence it is a metonym, still preserving its relation to the original meaning: “There is a babier baby than M.” (in the entry baby of the first volume of  […]”

Verb

baby (third-person singular simple present babies, present participle babying, simple past and past participle babied)

  1. (transitive) To coddle; to pamper somebody like an infant.
  2. (transitive) To tend (something) with care; to be overly attentive to (something), fuss over.
    • 1967 March 31, “Mr. Mac and His Team”, in Time:
      In the past 27 years, "Mr. Mac," as he is known to his 46,000 teammates, has built and babied his McDonnell Co. from nothing into a $1 billion-a-year corporation.
    • 1912, Linda Craig, interviewed by Theresa Forte, "Tree and Twig farm — a treasure chest of heirloom tomatoes," Welland Tribune, 25 May, 2012, [3]
      I have grown them for years and although some years are better than others, I have always had loads of tomatoes by not babying them, going easy on the water, and fertilizing with compost in the planting hole.

Translations

Derived terms

Terms derived from the adjective, noun, or verb baby

English terms starting with “baby”

See also

References

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “babe”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

Danish

Danish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia da

Etymology

Borrowed from English baby.

Noun

baby c (singular definite babyen, plural indefinite babyer)

  1. A baby, an infant.
  2. (slang) An attractive young female.

Inflection

Declension of baby
common
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative baby babyen babyer babyerne
genitive babys babyens babyers babyernes

Synonyms

Derived terms

Derived terms

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English baby.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbeːbi/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: ba‧by

Noun

baby m (plural baby's or babies, diminutive baby'tje n)

  1. baby (infant)
    Synonym: zuigeling

Derived terms

Finnish

Alternative forms

Etymology

From English baby.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbei̯bi/, [ˈbe̞i̯bi]
  • IPA(key): /ˈbɑby/, [ˈbɑ̝by] (rare)
  • Rhymes: -eibi

Noun

baby

  1. baby (term of endearment)
  2. baby (very young human)

Declension

This spelling should preferably be used in nominative only as it does not fit into any standard inflection scheme.

Inflection of baby (Kotus type 1/valo, no gradation)
nominative baby babyt
genitive babyn babyjen
partitive babyä babyjä
illative babyyn babyihin
singular plural
nominative baby babyt
accusative nom. baby babyt
gen. babyn
genitive babyn babyjen
partitive babyä babyjä
inessive babyssä babyissä
elative babystä babyistä
illative babyyn babyihin
adessive babyllä babyillä
ablative babyltä babyiltä
allative babylle babyille
essive babynä babyinä
translative babyksi babyiksi
abessive babyttä babyittä
instructive — babyin
comitative See the possessive forms below.
Possessive forms of baby (Kotus type 1/valo, no gradation)
first-person singular possessor
singular plural
nominative babyni babyni
accusative nom. babyni babyni
gen. babyni
genitive babyni babyjeni
partitive babyäni babyjäni
inessive babyssäni babyissäni
elative babystäni babyistäni
illative babyyni babyihini
adessive babylläni babyilläni
ablative babyltäni babyiltäni
allative babylleni babyilleni
essive babynäni babyinäni
translative babykseni babyikseni
abessive babyttäni babyittäni
instructive — —
comitative — babyineni
second-person singular possessor
singular plural
nominative babysi babysi
accusative nom. babysi babysi
gen. babysi
genitive babysi babyjesi
partitive babyäsi babyjäsi
inessive babyssäsi babyissäsi
elative babystäsi babyistäsi
illative babyysi babyihisi
adessive babylläsi babyilläsi
ablative babyltäsi babyiltäsi
allative babyllesi babyillesi
essive babynäsi babyinäsi
translative babyksesi babyiksesi
abessive babyttäsi babyittäsi
instructive — —
comitative — babyinesi
first-person plural possessor
singular plural
nominative babymme babymme
accusative nom. babymme babymme
gen. babymme
genitive babymme babyjemme
partitive babyämme babyjämme
inessive babyssämme babyissämme
elative babystämme babyistämme
illative babyymme babyihimme
adessive babyllämme babyillämme
ablative babyltämme babyiltämme
allative babyllemme babyillemme
essive babynämme babyinämme
translative babyksemme babyiksemme
abessive babyttämme babyittämme
instructive — —
comitative — babyinemme
second-person plural possessor
singular plural
nominative babynne babynne
accusative nom. babynne babynne
gen. babynne
genitive babynne babyjenne
partitive babyänne babyjänne
inessive babyssänne babyissänne
elative babystänne babyistänne
illative babyynne babyihinne
adessive babyllänne babyillänne
ablative babyltänne babyiltänne
allative babyllenne babyillenne
essive babynänne babyinänne
translative babyksenne babyiksenne
abessive babyttänne babyittänne
instructive — —
comitative — babyinenne
third-person possessor
singular plural
nominative babynsä babynsä
accusative nom. babynsä babynsä
gen. babynsä
genitive babynsä babyjensä
partitive babyään
babyänsä 		babyjään
babyjänsä
inessive babyssään
babyssänsä 		babyissään
babyissänsä
elative babystään
babystänsä 		babyistään
babyistänsä
illative babyynsä babyihinsä
adessive babyllään
babyllänsä 		babyillään
babyillänsä
ablative babyltään
babyltänsä 		babyiltään
babyiltänsä
allative babylleen
babyllensä 		babyilleen
babyillensä
essive babynään
babynänsä 		babyinään
babyinänsä
translative babykseen
babyksensä 		babyikseen
babyiksensä
abessive babyttään
babyttänsä 		babyittään
babyittänsä
instructive — —
comitative — babyineen
babyinensä

Synonyms

  • (very young human) vauva
  • (term of endearment) kulta

Further reading

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English baby, from Middle English baby.

Pronunciation

Noun

baby m (plural babys)

  1. table soccer, table football
  2. baby, darling, sweetheart
  3. Mary Jane shoes

Further reading

Interlingua

Noun

baby

  1. baby

Synonyms

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English baby.

Pronunciation

Noun

baby m (invariable)

  1. child, baby, neonate
  2. a small shot of whisky
  3. tripod for a film camera

Adjective

baby (invariable)

  1. for use by young children
  2. very young

References

  1. ^ baby in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From German Baby, from English baby.

Noun

baby m anim or n

  1. baby (infant)
    Synonym: góletko
Declension

As a masculine noun:

Declension of baby
Singular Dual Plural
Nominative baby babyja babyje
Genitive babyja babyjowu babyjow
Dative babyjoju babyjoma babyjam
Accusative babyja babyjowu babyje, babyjow
Instrumental babyjom babyjoma babyjami
Locative babyju babyjoma babyjach

As a neuter noun, indeclinable.

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

baby

  1. inflection of baba:
    1. genitive singular
    2. nominative/accusative plural

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From babe +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbaːbiː/, /ˈbabiː/

Noun

baby

  1. (rare) A child or baby.

Descendants

References

Norwegian Bokmål

Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia no

Etymology

From English baby.

Noun

baby m (definite singular babyen, indefinite plural babyer, definite plural babyene)

  1. a baby

Synonyms

Derived terms

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nn

Etymology

From English baby.

Noun

baby m (definite singular babyen, indefinite plural babyar, definite plural babyane)

  1. a baby

Synonyms

Derived terms

References

Polish

Noun

baby f

  1. inflection of baba:
    1. genitive singular
    2. nominative/accusative/vocative plural

Slovak

Pronunciation

Noun

baby

  1. inflection of baba:
    1. genitive singular
    2. nominative/accusative plural

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English baby.

Noun

baby m (plural babys)

  1. baby

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Swedish

Pronunciation

Noun

baby c

  1. a baby (very young human)
    Synonym: (more common) bebis, Synonym: (more formal) spädbarn

Usage notes

Uncommon outside compounds, especially in the plural. The plural "babies" mentioned in SO is likely to be seen as Swenglish in modern times.

Declension

Declension of baby
nominative genitive
singular indefinite baby babys
definite babyn babyns
plural indefinite babys, babies babys, babies
definite - -

References

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