Etymologically
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baby

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 20:41. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • /ˈbɛ.bi/[1]
  • Formal: /ˈbe.bi/[1]

Forms

baby m or f by sense (invariable)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English baby, a diminutive of babe, a word of the language of small children.[2][3][4][5] Nocentini describes it as an infant word of imitative origin.[3]

The LEI places it among the elementary words of baby talk, beside pappa and mamma.[6] Italian first had the word in an adapted spelling, bebi, used from the end of the 19th century (Garollo 1892, Panzini 1922), and then went back to the English spelling.[6] French bébé gave Italian bebè.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is from Yorick, the pen name of the journalist Pietro Ferrigni, in 1877, with the sense “newborn child”.[2][7] In 1886 Gerolamo Rovetta used Baby as a girl's nickname in a story.[2]

Semantic evolution

Purists disliked the word: in 1905 Panzini wrote that baby meant the same as French bébé but seemed more elegant because it was less common, and listed bimbo, bambolino, bambino and other Italian words as perfectly good.[7]

From the 1960s the word widened its range to everything small or made for small children, also as an adjective placed after the noun: DELI records baby piscina in 1963.[2] The sense “girl” as a form of address is recorded from the late 1960s, the sense “small measure of whisky” from 1983, and compounds such as baby-sitter and baby-doll from 1970.[6] Journalistic Italian now puts baby before many nouns for “very young”: baby gang, baby killer.[8][4] In the cinema the word names a low tripod.[9][4][10]

Timeline

  • 1877 – Yorick uses baby for a newborn child.[2]
  • 1886 – Rovetta uses Baby as a nickname.[2]
  • 1892 – The adapted spelling bebi is recorded.[6]
  • 1963 – Baby piscina “paddling pool” is recorded.[2]
  • 1967 – The adjective sense “for children” is recorded.[6]
  • 1970 – Baby-sitter and baby-doll appear in the Zingarelli dictionary.[6]
  • 1983 – The sense “small measure of whisky” is recorded.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (jocular) A baby or small child.[9][4][5]
  2. (colloquial) A form of address to a young man or woman: Andiamo, baby, è tardi![9][8][11]
  3. A small measure of whisky.[9][4][5]
  4. (cinema) A low tripod for a film camera; also a projector of 500 to 750 watts.[9][4][10]

Adjective

  1. Made for children: una linea di cosmetici baby.[9][4][5]
  2. Placed before a noun, very young: una baby calciatrice.[9][4][5]
  3. Smaller than the usual size: un formato baby del detersivo.[9][4][10]

Word family

  • baby-sitter
  • baby-doll

Usage notes

The word is invariable; the English plural babies is also used.[4][5][8] It is usually pronounced /ˈbɛbi/, less often /ˈbebi/.[8][1] A pensione baby is a pension paid to someone who retired young after a short working life.[4][11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 5, 635
  7. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. Supplemento 2004
  8. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  10. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  11. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana