en Babia

Spanish

FWOTD – 15 February 2022

Etymology

From the county of Babia in León, Spain, which used to be a royal hunting ground - the king's court would reply "in Babia" as a vague response when they didn't want to disclose his whereabouts.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /em ˈbabja/ [ẽm ˈba.β̞ja]
• Syllabification: en Ba‧bia

Adverb

en Babia

1. (colloquial) lost in thought, with one's head in the clouds

Further reading

• “en Babia”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10