babe English · revision 7608

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=onomatopoeia|attested=before 1393}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /beɪb/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English, apparently short for baban (probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) of uncertain origin,^(Barnhart 1988) probably imitative of baby talk (see [[babble]]).^(Etymonline)^(NODE 1998)^(MWU 2024) Etymonline notes that in many languages similar words mean old woman, as Russian baba, and sometimes father.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ An infant, a young child: before 1393, in Gower's ''Confessio Amantis''.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Hensleigh Wedgwood observed that the simplest syllables, such as ma, ba, pa, na, da and ta, formed the vocabulary for father, mother, infant, breast and food.^(Etymonline) A doll is an obsolete sense of 1530.^(OED 1989) Figuratively, a childish or innocent person, and ''babes in Christ'', new converts, are from 1526.^(OED 1989) A girl or woman, often as a form of address, is slang, chiefly American, from 1915,^(OED 1989) and Collins gives a sexually attractive young person as an informal sense.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1200 – baban.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * before 1393 – babe, an infant.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1526 – an innocent person.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1915 – a girl or woman (slang).^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[baby]]; an [[infant]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # An innocent or [[naive]] person: ''a babe in arms''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(informal)'' A young woman, or an attractive young person; also a term of address.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[baby]]

+ * [[babble]]

+ * [[babushka]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}