baby

baby

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of baby in English

English Online Dictionary. What means baby‎? What does baby mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English baby, babie (“baby”), a diminutive form of babe (“babe, baby”), equivalent to babe +‎ -y/-ie (“endearing and diminutive suffix”).

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: bā'bē, IPA(key): /ˈbeɪbi/
  • Rhymes: -eɪbi

Noun

baby (plural babies)

  1. A very young human, particularly from birth to a couple of years old or until walking is fully mastered.
  2. 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.
  3. Unborn young; a fetus.
  4. A person who is immature, infantile or feeble.
  5. A person who is new to or inexperienced in something.
  6. The lastborn of a family; the youngest sibling, irrespective of age.
  7. A term of endearment used to refer to or address one's girlfriend, boyfriend or spouse.
  8. (informal) A form of address to a man or a woman considered to be attractive.
  9. A pet project or responsibility.
    • 1996, Orlando Figes, A People's Tragedy, Folio Society 2015, p. 902:
      Sovnarkom was Lenin's baby, it was where he focused all his energies […].
  10. An affectionate term for anything.
  11. (archaic) A small image of an infant; a doll.

Synonyms

  • (young human being): babe, babby, babbie, infant, see also Thesaurus:baby
  • (young animal): see Thesaurus:youngling
  • (immature or infantile person): big baby
  • (term of endearment): love, see also Thesaurus:sweetheart

Translations

See also

  • gamete, zygote, morula, blastocyst, embryo, fetus

Adjective

baby (comparative babier or babyer, superlative babiest or babyest)

  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].

Further reading

  • 1987, Raphael Sappan, 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.
    • 1922, Sinclair Lewis, Babbitt, Chapter, [2]
      […] though he tried to be gruff and mature, he yielded to her and was glad to be babied.
    • 1944, Emily Carr, The House of All Sorts, "Friction," [3]
      Then the man effected measles and stayed off the job for six weeks, babying himself at home, though he lived just round the corner from my half-built house.
  2. (transitive) To tend (something) with care; to be overly attentive to (something), fuss over.
    • 1967, "Mr. Mac and His Team," Time, 31 March, 1967, [4]
      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, [5]
      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.

Derived terms

Pages starting with “baby”.

Related terms

  • babe

See also

  • child
  • infant
  • toddler

Anagrams

  • Abby

Danish

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

Synonyms

  • spædbarn

Derived terms

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English baby.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

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

  1. baby (infant)
    Synonym: zuigeling

Derived terms

  • babyboom
  • babyface
  • babyfoon
  • babykleding
  • babykleren
  • babyluier
  • babypoeder
  • babyshampoo

Finnish

Alternative forms

  • beibi

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbei̯bi/, [ˈbe̞i̯bi]
  • IPA(key): /ˈbɑby/, [ˈbɑby] (rare)

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.

Synonyms

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

French

Etymology

From English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ba.bi/

Noun

baby m (plural babys)

  1. table soccer, table football
  2. baby, darling, sweetheart

Further reading

  • “baby” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Interlingua

Noun

baby

  1. baby

Synonyms

  • bebe

Italian

Etymology

From English baby.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbe.bi/

Noun

baby m (invariable)

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

Adjective

baby (invariant)

  1. For use by young children
  2. Very young

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbabɨ/

Noun

baby

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

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From English baby

Noun

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

  1. a baby

Synonyms

  • spedbarn

Derived terms

  • babymat
  • babyolje

References

  • “baby” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From English baby

Noun

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

  1. a baby

Synonyms

  • spedbarn

Derived terms

  • babymat
  • babyolje

References

  • “baby” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Polish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈba.bɨ/

Noun

baby f

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

Slovak

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈbabi]

Noun

baby

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

Spanish

Noun

baby m (plural babys)

  1. baby

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This article based on an article on Wiktionary. The list of authors can be seen in the page history there. The original work has been modified. This article is distributed under the terms of this license.