Etymologically
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baby

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:50. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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
  • 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