different between baby vs pet

English

Etymology

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).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: b?'b?, IPA^(key): /?be?bi/
• Rhymes: -e?bi

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.

Translations

Derived terms

Pages starting with “baby”.

Related terms

• babe

See also

• child
• infant
• toddler

References

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): /?be?bi/
• 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): /?bei?bi/, [?be?i?bi]
• IPA^(key): /?b?by/, [?b?by] (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): /?be.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): /?bab?/

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): /?ba.b?/

Noun

baby f

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

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?babi]

Noun

baby

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

Spanish

Noun

baby m (plural babys)

1. baby

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?t/, [p??t], [p???t]
• Rhymes: -?t

Etymology 1

Attested since the 1500s in the sense "indulged child" and since the 1530s in the sense "animal companion". From Scots and dialectal Northern English, of unclear origin. Perhaps a back-formation of petty, pety (“little, small”), a term formerly used to describe children and animals (e.g. pet lambs). Alternatively, perhaps a borrowing of Scottish Gaelic peata, from Old Irish petta, peta (“pet, lap-dog”), of uncertain (possibly pre-Indo-European) origin. Compare peat (“pet, darling, woman”).

The verb is derived from the noun.

Noun

pet (plural pets)

1. An animal kept as a companion.
2. (by extension) Something kept as a companion, including inanimate objects. (pet rock, pet plant, etc.)
3. One who is excessively loyal to a superior and receives preferential treatment.
4. Any person or animal especially cherished and indulged; a darling.
   • 1847, Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights, chapter XIX:

     At first she sat silent; but that could not last: she had resolved to make a pet of her little cousin, as she would have him to be; and she commenced stroking his curls, and kissing his cheek, and offering him tea in her saucer, like a baby.

   • December 21, 1710, Isaac Bickerstaff (pseudonym for Richard Steele or (in some later numbers of the journal) Joseph Addison), The Tatler No. 266

     the love of cronies, pets, and favourites

Synonyms

• companion animal

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

pet (third-person singular simple present pets, present participle petting, simple past and past participle petted or (nonstandard) pet)

1. (transitive) To stroke or fondle (an animal).
2. (transitive, intransitive, informal) To stroke or fondle (another person) amorously.
3. (dated, transitive) To treat as a pet; to fondle; to indulge.

4. (archaic, intransitive) To be a pet.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Feltham to this entry?)

5. (archaic, intransitive) To be peevish; to sulk.

Synonyms

• (to stroke or fondle an animal): pat, smooth
• (to stroke or fondle amorously): feel up, grope, touch up; see also Thesaurus:fondle
• (to treat as a pet): coddle, cosset; see also Thesaurus:pamper
• (to be peevish): mope, pout

Derived terms

• petting

Translations

Adjective

pet (not comparable)

1. Favourite; cherished; the focus of one's (usually positive) attention.
   • 1886, Frederic Harrison, The Choice of Books

     Some young lady's pet curate.

   • 1875, William Conant Church, The Galaxy, page 141:

     Major Butler has a pet grievance and a pet aversion, which he forces on the reader in every chapter, and which becomes at last very wearisome.

   • 1991, Deborah G. Douglas, United States Women in Aviation, 1940-1985, page 9:

     In an interview with Flying magazine, Heberding commented that her pet annoyance was "the reluctance of people generally to accept a woman whether as a pilot or a preflight inspector."

2. Kept or treated as a pet.

Derived terms

Translations

References

Etymology 2

Clipping of petulance.

Noun

pet (plural pets)

1. A fit of petulance, a sulk, arising from the impression that one has been offended or slighted.
   • 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska 2005, p. 105:

     There was something ludicrous, even more, unbecoming a gentleman, in leaving a friend's house in a pet, with the host's reproaches sounding in his ears, to be matched only by the bitterness of the guest's sneering retorts.

Etymology 3

Clipping of petition.

Noun

pet (plural pets)

1. Abbreviation of petition.

Etymology 4

Clipping of petal.

Noun

pet (plural pets)

1. (Ireland, Tyneside) A term of endearment usually applied to women and children.

References

• A Dictionary of North East Dialect, Bill Griffiths, 2005, Northumbria University Press, ?ISBN

See also

• pet coke

Anagrams

• EPT, PTE, Pte, TPE, Tep, ept

Catalan

Etymology

From Old Occitan [Term?] (compare Occitan pet), from Latin p?ditum (compare French pet, Spanish pedo, Italian peto).

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /?p?t/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /?p?t/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /?pet/

Noun

pet m (plural pets)

1. (colloquial) fart

Related terms

• petar
• petat
• llufa f

Further reading

• “pet” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Chuukese

Etymology

Borrowed from English bed.

Noun

pet

1. bed

   • Iwe upwe pw?r ngeni kemi pwe mi wor an ewe Noun Aramas manamanen omusano tipis won fonufan. Iwe a apasa ngeni ewe mwan mi mwök, 'Upwe erenuk, kopwe uta, kopwe eki om na pet o feinno non imwom!"

     Therefore I will show you that the Son of Man has the power of forgiving sins on earth. So he said to the sick man, 'I tell you, stand, grab your bed and go to your house!"

Dutch

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?t/
• Hyphenation: pet
• Rhymes: -?t

Noun

pet m (plural petten, diminutive petje n)

1. cap (headwear with a peak at the front)

Descendants

• ? Indonesian: pet
• ? Indonesian: peci

Adjective

pet (comparative petter, superlative petst)

1. (slang) bad, crappy

Inflection

Derived terms

• naatje pet

Descendants

• ? Papiamentu: pèchi (from the diminutive)

French

Etymology

From Old French pet, inherited from Latin p?ditum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?/
• Homophones: pais, pait, paît, paix, paie, paies, pets
• (Quebec, informal) IPA^(key): /p?t/

Noun

pet m (plural pets)

1. (colloquial) fart
2. (colloquial) (nonstandard) Common apocope for pétard (joint) (pronounced IPA^(key): /p?t/ in singular and plural). Rarely pèt.

Synonyms

• vesse

Derived terms

• comme un pet sur une toile cirée
• pet-de-nonne

Related terms

• péter

Further reading

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

Friulian

Etymology

From Latin pectus.

Noun

pet m (plural pets)

1. (anatomy) chest

See also

• sen

Indonesian

Etymology

From Dutch pet, probably from French toupet. Doublet of peci.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?p?t??]
• Hyphenation: pèt

Noun

pet (plural pet-pet, first-person possessive petku, second-person possessive petmu, third-person possessive petnya)

1. cap (headwear with a peak at the front)

   Hypernym: topi

Further reading

• “pet” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) Daring, Jakarta: Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia, 2016.

Middle French

Noun

pet m (plural pets)

1. (vulgar) fart, gas, flatulence

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?t/

Noun

pet m anim (diminutive pecik)

1. (colloquial) cigarette butt

   Synonyms: kiep, niedopa?ek

2. (colloquial, derogatory) cigarette

   Synonyms: papieros, fajek, szlug

Declension

Further reading

• pet in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from English pet.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /?p?t??/
  • Homophones: PET, patch

Noun

pet m (plural pets)

1. (Brazil, upper class slang) pet (animal kept as a companion)

   Synonyms: animal de estimação (much more common), mascote

See also

• pet shop

Romansch

Alternative forms

• (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Surmiran) pèz
• (Sutsilvan) péz

Etymology

From Latin pectus.

Noun

pet m (plural pets)

1. (Puter, Vallader, anatomy) chest, thorax

Related terms

• (Rumantsch Grischun) sain
• (Sursilvan) sein
• (Sutsilvan, Surmiran) sagn

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *p?t?, from Proto-Indo-European *pénk?e.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pê?t/, /pêt/

Numeral

p?t (Cyrillic spelling ????)

1. five (5)

Slovene

Etymology 1

From Proto-Slavic *p?t?, from Proto-Indo-European *pénk?e.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pé?t/

Numeral

p??t

1. five

Inflection

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Noun

pet

1. genitive dual/plural of peta

Westrobothnian

Noun

pet n

1. bad worker who does not get anything out of his hands completely done