different between baba vs caba

baba

English

Etymology

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 ????? (b?b?, father) (from Old Persian p?pa; as opposed to the Arabic words ?????? (?ab?) and ???? (?ab); 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 ??.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): (variously) /?b??b??/, /?b??b?/, /?bæb?/

Noun

baba (plural babas)

  1. A kind of sponge cake soaked in rum-flavoured syrup.
  2. (esp. 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.
    • 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. (esp. among people of Indian ancestry) A father.
    • 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.
  6. (British India) A baby, child.
  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.

Related terms

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

Translations

Further reading

  • baba on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

  • AABB, Abba, abba

Afrikaans

Noun

baba (plural babas)

  1. baby

Related terms

  • babetjie

Verb

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

  1. to treat with gentle care, to coddle

Albanian

Alternative forms

  • babai

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [baba] (Tosk)
  • IPA(key): [b?ba] (Gheg)

Noun

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

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

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

  • Baba Dimri

Atong (India)

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /baba/

Noun

baba (Bengali script ????)

  1. father
  2. paternal uncle
  3. son

Synonyms

(father):

  • awa
  • wa•

References

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

Azerbaijani

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [b??b?]
  • Hyphenation: ba?ba

Noun

baba (definite accusative baban?, plural babalar)

  1. grandfather

Declension

Antonyms

  • (with regard to gender) n?n? (grandmother)
  • (with regard to ancestry) n?v? (grandchild)

Basque

Etymology

From Proto-Basque, ultimately from Latin faba.

Pronunciation

  • (standard) IPA(key): /ba.ba/

Noun

baba inan

  1. broad bean
  2. bean, green bean
    Synonym: babarrun
  3. blister

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

  • “baba” in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia, euskaltzaindia.eus
  • “baba” in Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia, euskaltzaindia.eus

Bikol Central

Etymology

From padaba (loved one) (term of endearment).

Noun

baba (babà) (Bikol Legazpi)

  1. loved one

Verb

baba

  1. to piggyback; to carry someone on the back

Cebuano

Etymology 1

First attested in Antonio Pigafetta's Relazione del primo viaggio intorno al mondo—detailing the first circumnavigation of the world between 1519 and 1522.

Pronunciation

  • (General Cebuano) IPA(key): /ba?ba?/
  • Rhymes: -a?
  • Hyphenation: ba?ba

Noun

baba

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

Verb

baba

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

Etymology 2

Compare abaga.

Pronunciation

  • (General Cebuano) IPA(key): /?baba/
  • Rhymes: -a
  • Hyphenation: ba?ba

Verb

baba

  1. to piggyback; to carry someone on the back

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:baba.

Derived terms

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

Crimean Tatar

Etymology

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

Noun

baba

  1. father
  2. dad

Declension


Czech

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *baba.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /baba/
  • Rhymes: -aba

Noun

baba f

  1. crone, hag
  2. coward, milksop
    Synonym: ? zbab?lec
  3. (informal) girl, chick

Declension

Related terms

Further reading

  • baba in Kartotéka Novo?eského lexikálního archivu
  • baba in Akademický slovník sou?asné ?eštiny, 2012-, slovnikcestiny.cz

Dagbani

Etymology

Unknown.

Noun

baba (plural babanima)

  1. Title of the second chief butcher

Noun

baba

  1. plural of babli (a featherless fowl)

Noun

baba

  1. Father

Ewe

Noun

baba

  1. termite, white ant

References


Fanagalo

Etymology

From Zulu ubaba, from Proto-Bantu *bààbá.

Noun

baba

  1. father

Finnish

Etymology

From Polish baba, probably via French

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /?b?b?/, [?b?b?]
  • Rhymes: -?b?
  • Syllabification: ba?ba

Noun

baba

  1. baba, babka (type of cake)

Declension


French

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ba.ba/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Polish baba, introduced in France in the eighteenth century at the court of Stanis?aw Leszczy?ski, king of Poland, duke of Lorraine and father-in-law of Louis XV.

Noun

baba m (plural babas)

  1. baba (type of cake)

Etymology 2

Onomatopoeic.

Adjective

baba (plural babas)

  1. (colloquial) flabbergasted

Further reading

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

Galician

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [?ba??]

Noun

baba f (plural babas)

  1. drool
    Synonym: baballa
  2. slime (mucus-like substance which exudes from the bodies of certain animals)
    Synonym: baballa

Derived terms

  • baballa
  • babar
  • babexar

References

  • “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.

Garo

Etymology

Likely from Bengali ???? (baba)

Noun

baba

  1. father

Synonyms

  • paa
  • pagipa
  • apa

German

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -a?

Interjection

baba

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

Usage notes

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

Hausa

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “all etys”)

Etymology 1

Noun

b??ba m (possessed form b??ban)

  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.

Etymology 2

Noun

b??b? m (plural b??bànni, possessed form b??ban)

  1. eunuch
  2. impotent man

Etymology 3

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

Noun

b?bà f (possessed form b?bàr?)

  1. paternal aunt

References

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

Etymology 4

Noun

b?b? m (possessed form b?ban)

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

Hiligaynon

Noun

bába or bâbâ

  1. mouth

Hungarian

Etymology

An onomatopoeia. It may be a doublet of báb.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [?b?b?]
  • Hyphenation: ba?ba
  • Rhymes: -b?

Noun

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: csecsem?, 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

Declension

Derived terms

Adjective

baba (comparative babább, superlative legbabább)

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

Declension

References

Further reading

  • baba in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh: A magyar nyelv értelmez? 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 2021)

Ilocano

Etymology

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *babaq

Pronunciation

  • Hyphenation: ba?ba
  • IPA(key): /ba?ba/, [b??ba]

Adverb

babá

  1. below

Derived terms


Japanese

Romanization

baba

  1. R?maji transcription of ??

Kabyle

Noun

baba m

  1. father

Kikuyu

Alternative forms

  • baaba

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /?à????/
The first a is pronounced long.
As for Tonal Class, Benson (1964) classifies this term into Class 6 with a disyllabic stem, together with m?gwac?, nyam?, and so on.
  • (Kiambu)
  • (Limuru) As for Tonal Class, Yukawa (1981) classifies this term into a group including guka, g?t?, m?gu?, m?twe, nyam?, ruo, r?h? (pl. h?), r?k? (pl. ng?), taata (my aunt), ?ta (pl. mota), ?thi? (pl. mothi?), and so on.
  • (Ndia) The same underlying pattern as that of r?h? and mothi?.
  • (Nyeri) The same underlying pattern as that of mothi? and ruo.

Noun

baba 1

  1. my father, dad

See also

  • (thy) thoguo; (his/her) ithe

References


Latgalian

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /?baba/
  • Hyphenation: ba?ba

Noun

baba f (diminutive babe?a)

  1. grandmother

Declension

Synonyms

  • (dialectal) vace

Coordinate terms

  • dzeds (grandfather)

References

  • A. Andronov; L. Leikuma (2008) Latgal?šu-Latv?šu-Kr?vu sarunu vuordineica, Lvava, ?ISBN, page 10

Lower Sorbian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *baba.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /?baba/

Noun

baba f (diminutive babka)

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

Declension

Further reading

  • baba in Ernst Muka/Mucke (St. Petersburg and Prague 1911–28): S?ownik dolnoserbskeje r?cy a jeje nar?cow / Wörterbuch der nieder-wendischen Sprache und ihrer Dialekte. Reprinted 2008, Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag
  • baba in Manfred Starosta (1999): Dolnoserbsko-nimski s?ownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch. Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag.

Luo

Noun

baba

  1. father

Malay

Etymology

Voiced bapa.

Pronunciation

  • (Johor-Selangor) IPA(key): /bab?/
  • (Riau-Lingga) IPA(key): /baba/
  • Rhymes: -ab?, -b?, -?
  • Rhymes: -?

Noun

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

  1. father (male parent)

Synonyms

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

Descendants

  • ? Chinese: ??

References


Marshallese

Pronunciation

  • (phonetic) IPA(key): [p???b??], (enunciated) [p?? p??]
  • (phonemic) IPA(key): /p?æ?p?æ?/
  • Bender phonemes: {bahbah}

Noun

baba

  1. father
  2. daddy

References

  • Marshallese–English Online Dictionary

Matal

Noun

baba

  1. father

Mwani

Etymology

From Proto-Bantu *bààbá.

Alternative forms

  • wawa

Noun

baba 1a (plural wababa)

  1. father

Ngarluma

Noun

baba

  1. water
  2. rain, rainwater

References

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

Phuthi

Etymology

From Proto-Bantu *-bába.

Verb

-baba

  1. to taste bitter

Inflection

This verb needs an inflection-table template.


Polish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /?ba.ba/

Etymology 1

From Proto-Slavic *baba, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *b???b??. From nursery language.

Noun

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

  1. (colloquial) woman
  2. (colloquial) wife, girlfriend
  3. babka, a type of cake
    Synonym: babka
  4. crone, hag
  5. (obsolete) grandmother
    Synonym: babcia
Declension
References
  • Brückner, Aleksander (1927) S?ownik etymologiczny j?zyka polskiego [Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language] (in Polish), Warsaw: Wiedza Powszechna, published 1985

Related terms

  • (verb) babie?
  • (nouns) babcia f, babiniec m, babka f, babon m, babsztyl m, babunia f
  • (adjectives) babi, babski

Etymology 2

From Persian ?????.

Noun

baba m pers

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

Further reading

  • baba in Wielki s?ownik j?zyka polskiego, Instytut J?zyka Polskiego PAN
  • baba in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /?ba.b?/
  • Rhymes: -aba

Noun

baba f (plural babas)

  1. drool, dribble

See also

  • babar-se

Verb

baba

  1. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present indicative of babar
  2. second-person singular (tu, sometimes used with você) affirmative imperative of babar

Ratagnon

Noun

baba

  1. mouth

Romanian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [?ba.ba]

Noun

baba

  1. definite singular of bab?

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *baba.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bâba/
  • Hyphenation: ba?ba

Noun

b?ba f (Cyrillic spelling ?????)

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

Declension

Synonyms

  • (grandmother; grandma): báka, nena

References

  • “baba” in Hrvatski jezi?ni portal

Shona

Etymology

From Proto-Bantu *bààbá.

Noun

babá 1a (plural vababá 2)

  1. father
  2. (Christianity) father (priest)
    Synonym: fata

Slovak

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *baba.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /?baba/

Noun

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

Declension

Derived terms

  • babský (adj)
  • babsky (adverb)
  • babisko

Further reading

  • baba in Slovak dictionaries at korpus.sk

Slovene

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *baba.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bà?ba/

Noun

bába f

  1. old woman, hag

Inflection

Derived terms

  • bábica

Further reading

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

Southern Ndebele

Etymology

From Proto-Bantu *-bába.

Verb

-bába

  1. to be bitter

Inflection

This verb needs an inflection-table template.


Spanish

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /?baba/, [?ba.??a]

Noun

baba f (plural babas)

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

Related terms

See also

  • cieno
  • lama

Further reading

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

Swahili

Etymology

From Proto-Bantu *bààbá.

Pronunciation

Noun

baba (n class, plural baba)

  1. father (male parent)

Coordinate terms

  • mama

Derived terms

  • ubaba

Swazi

Etymology

From Proto-Bantu *-bába.

Verb

-bába

  1. (intransitive) to taste bitter

Inflection

This verb needs an inflection-table template.


Tagalog

Etymology 1

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

Adverb

babà

  1. low

Noun

babà

  1. (anatomy) chin

Verb

babâ

  1. to descend

Etymology 2

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

Verb

baba

  1. to piggyback

Ternate

Noun

baba

  1. father

References

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

Turkish

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish ?????, from Middle Persian [Term?].

Cognate withKazakh ???? (baba),Bashkir ???? (baba),Uzbek bobo,Uyghur ????? (baba), ????? (bowa),Turkmen baba,Azerbaijani baba (grandfather), etc.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /b??b?/
  • Hyphenation: ba?ba

Noun

baba (definite accusative babay?, plural babalar)

  1. father
  2. Saint (as in Gül Baba)

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

  • baba in Turkish dictionaries at Türk Dil Kurumu

Upper Sorbian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *baba.

Noun

baba f

  1. old woman, grandmother
  2. midwife
  3. dough, pastry
  4. pelican (bird)

Venda

Etymology

From Proto-Bantu *bààbá.

Noun

baba

  1. father

Yoruba

Etymology 1

Noun

bàbá or baba

  1. father

Coordinate terms

  • mama

Noun

baba

  1. Old or elderly man of wisdom

Etymology 2

Noun

bàbà

  1. copper (chemical element, Cu, atomical number 29)

Etymology 3

From English barber.

Noun

bábà

  1. barber

Zulu

Etymology 1

From Proto-Bantu *-bába.

Verb

-bába

  1. (intransitive) to taste hot, spicy
  2. (intransitive) to taste bitter
Inflection

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Noun

baba

  1. simple singular of ubaba

References

  • C. M. Doke; B. W. Vilakazi (1972) , “?a?a”, in Zulu-English Dictionary, ?ISBN: “?a?a (3.9) v.”
  • C. M. Doke; B. W. Vilakazi (1972) , “?a?a”, in Zulu-English Dictionary, ?ISBN: “?a?a (3-5.4) voc. interj.”

baba From the web:

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caba

English

Noun

caba (plural cabas)

  1. (dated) A cabas, or lady's bag.

Anagrams

  • A.C.A.B., AABC, AACB, ABAC, ABCA, ACAB, BCAA, Baca, abac

Turkish

Noun

caba (definite accusative cabay?, plural cabalar)

  1. free

Declension

References

  • caba in Turkish dictionaries at Türk Dil Kurumu

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