baba

/ˈbɑːbɑː/

baba noun: a kind of sponge cake soaked in rum-flavoured syrup.

Noun (1)

baba (usually countable, plural babas)

(also, uncountable, usually) A kind of sponge cake soaked in rum-flavoured syrup.
- The trolley of fresh local cheeses, including the region's pride, mozzarella di bufala, is as attractive as the trolley of classic Neapolitan desserts, including pastiera napolitana (a ricotta cake with orange rind), feather-light baba, and, in mid-March, zeppola di San Giuseppe (whose feast day is...1994 May 1, Maureen B. Fant, “CHOICE TABLES; Tastes Swing Back To Flavors of Naples”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26...
(usually, especially among people of Eastern European ancestry) A grandmother.
- My baba, Ksenia Dubinsky, tells me that my education makes her proud.1993, Karen Dubinsky, Improper Advances: Rape and Heterosexual Conflict in Ontario, 1880-1929, University of Chicago Press
- 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.2001, Brattleboro Remembers, edited by the Brattleboro [Vermont] Historical Society, Arcadia Publishing
(broadly, usually) An old woman, especially a traditional old woman from an Eastern European culture.
- Only two women, typical "babas" (peasant women) in the house from which I got my quilt and bedcloth, could be coaxed to pose;1914, Russell Sage Foundation, Wage-earning Pittsburgh
- Laura hadn't known that anyone's mother could look like that, like the babas you sometimes saw downtown, bandaged in kerchiefs and aprons, sitting toothless in stockinged feet on small verandahs, peeling potatoes or beets or just shaking their heads and grimacing.1986, Janice Kulyk Keefer, The Paris-Napoli Express
(usually, especially among people of Indian or Chinese ancestry) A father.
- The first time I signed my exercise I wrote "Pisistratus Caxton" in my best round-hand. "And dey call your baba a scholar!" said the Doctor, contemptuously.1849, Edward Bulwer Lytton, The Caxtons
- "The greatest gift and honor is having you for a daughter. I've missed you so." "I've missed you too, baba."1998, Mulan (movie)
(Hinduism, Sikhism, usually) A holy man, a spiritual leader.
- While I was in Port Alberni, three babas came to Canada to raise money ...1995, Hugh J.M. Johnston, Tara Singh Bains, The Four Quarters of the Night: The Life-Journey of an Emigrant Sikh
- But according to Ray, 'all the babas my uncle knew were genuine. None of them was exposed. They were fairly humble people, not show-offs like the Maharishi ...2004, Andrew Robinson, Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye: The Biography of a Master Film-Maker
(British, India, usually) A baby, child.
- That is to say, if I do not take care, I shall go on calling my darling 'Baba' till she is as old as her mamma, and has a dozen Babas of her own.1876, Sir George Otto Trevelyan, The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay
- For my child is dead—my baba is dead!1904, Rudyard Kipling, Traffics and Discoveries
(usually) In baby talk, often used for a variety of words beginning with b, such as bottle or blanket.
- Oh, it's storytime! Let me get my baba.2004, House (TV, episode 1.14)

Noun (2) capitalized: Baba

Baba (plural Babas)

(Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore) A male Peranakan.

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Baba

Baba

Synonym of Set (“Egyptian god”).

Synonyms:

Set

Proper noun (2) capitalized: BABA

BABA

(abbreviation) Abbreviation of Alibaba.
- As a result, PDD’s market cap has soared to $195.9 billion, eclipsing Alibaba’s (BABA) $190.5 billion. It’s the first time PDD has surpassed its older rival, according to data provider Refinitiv Eikon.2023 November 30, Michelle Toh and Laura He, “‘Pay any price.’ Alibaba’s Jack Ma urges reform as rival rattles e-commerce giant”, in CNN Business

baba meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Bengali

baba in Marathi

holy man, spiritual leader: बाबा bābā

baba in Bengali

holy man, spiritual leader: বাবা baba

More languagesFewer languages

baba in Telugu: బాబా bābā
baba in Malayalam: ബാബ, ബാബാ
baba in Kannada: ಬಾಬಾ, ಬಾಬ
baba in Punjabi: ਬਾਬਾ
baba in Gujarati: બાબા
baba in Odia: ବାବା bābā

Examples of baba in a sentence

As we made eye contact, I slowly began to wonder if she was Baba.2004, MaryBeth Bond, editor, A Woman's Europe: True Stories:
Most babas had little contact with written culture and are not therefore named in books and treatises.2006, Suraiya Faroqhi, Subjects Of The Sultan: Culture And Daily Life In The Ottoman Empire:

All 15 example sentences with baba

Synonyms of baba

Forms of baba

plural	babas
plural	Babas

Plural of baba: babas

Origin of baba

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: Albanian, Arabic, Western Armenian, Chinese, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, Greek, Marathi, Marshallese, Mingrelian, Nepali, Persian, Swahili, Turkish, Yoruba, Shona, Zulu * grandmother: many Slavic languages (such as Bulgarian, Czech, Russian, Serbo-Croatian and Polish; a doublet of bubbe), 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 بابا (bābā, “father”) (from Old Persian pāpa...

From Malay Baba or baba.

Words formed from baba

rum baba

Phrases with baba

Words that rhyme with baba

Sabah

Questions about baba

What does baba mean?: Baba means a kind of sponge cake soaked in rum-flavoured syrup.
What is baba in Hindi?: Baba in Hindi is बाबा. See Baba meaning in Hindi.
How do you use baba in a sentence?: As we made eye contact, I slowly began to wonder if she was Baba.
What part of speech is baba?: Baba can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce baba?: Baba is pronounced /ˈbɑːbɑː/.
What is the plural of baba?: The plural of baba is babas.

Words near baba in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: baba (page history and authors); Baba (page history and authors); BABA (page history and authors); baba (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); baba (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); baba (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); baba (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); baba (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); baba (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-baba.wav.

Cite this entry: “baba.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/baba. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.