baby

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈbeɪ.bi/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English babi (also baby, babee),^[2][3] a diminutive of babe with the suffix -y.^[3][2][4] Like babe, it is probably imitative of the repeated “ba” of an infant's first attempts at speech,^[5][6][7] as are babble, mama and papa.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

An infant or young child of either sex: 1377, in a version of Piers Plowman;^[8][2] the word was at first a synonym of child.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century a baby was also a doll or puppet,^[8][9] and in the 1590s also the tiny image of oneself seen in the pupil of another's eye,^[3][8] a sense Etymonline compares with pupil.^[3] A childish adult has been a baby from about 1600,^[3][8] and the young of an animal since 1659.^[10] The adjective is recorded from 1591^[11] or 1750,^[3][10] and the verb “to treat like a baby” from 1742.^[8][3] A lover or sweetheart has been called baby since 1684 according to the Historical Thesaurus,^[10] or perhaps since 1839 and certainly by 1901 according to Etymonline;^[3] the OED found the degree of slang in the 19th-century examples hard to judge.^[3] A person's invention or special concern is their baby from 1890,^[8] and the youngest of a group from 1897.^[3] The phrase throw the baby out with the bathwater is from a German saying, recorded in English from 1909.^[8][6]

Timeline

• 1377 – an infant (Piers Plowman).^[8][2]
• 1552 – a doll (obsolete).^[8]
• 1593 – one's reflection in another's pupil.^[8]
• c. 1600 – a childish person.^[3]
• 1659 – a young animal.^[10]
• 1684 – a lover, sweetheart.^[10]
• 1742 – verb, to treat like a baby.^[8][3]
• 1890 – one's own creation or concern.^[8]
• 1897 – the youngest of a group.^[3]
• 1909 – throw the baby out with the bathwater.^[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A very young child; an infant.
2. The youngest member of a family or group.
3. A very young animal.
4. A person who behaves in a childish way.
5. (slang) A lover or sweetheart, often as a term of address.
6. Something that is one's own creation or responsibility.

Adjective

1. Of or for a baby.
2. Very small of its kind: baby carrots.

Verb

1. To treat with excessive care; to pamper or coddle.

Word family

• babyhood
• babyish
• babyishly
• babyishness
• babylike

Related words

• babe
• babble
• mama
• papa

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
11. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster