Ali Baba

See also: Alibaba, Ālǐbābā, ali baba, Alí Baba, Ali Babá, Alí Babá, Alì Babà, and Ali Babą

English

Etymology

From Arabic عَلِيّ بَابَا (ʕaliyy bābā). The use of Ali Baba to designate a type of container originates from the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (see the use as proper noun below), suggesting the appearance of the oil jars in which the thieves hide in the story.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Proper noun

Ali Baba

1. The fictional protagonist of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, famous for his encounter with forty thieves and their treasure trove cave that opens on the command "open sesame".

Derived terms

• Ali Baba bag

Noun

Ali Baba (plural Ali Babas)

1. (slang) An extremely lucky person, especially one who acquires a large fortune by luck or by chance.
2. (slang, ethnic slur, US, military) An Iraqi.
3. (chiefly attributive) A large container, such as a jar or a basket, with a flat base and usually a rounded body that tapers to a narrower neck.
   • 2009, Martha Reinhard Smallwood Field [Catherine Cole, pseud.], The Story of the Old French Market, ca. 1916, no pagination, quoted in Daniel H. Usner, Jr., Indian Work: Language and Livelihood in Native American History, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 101:

     Towering over all these are the huge Ali Baba baskets, square at the bottom, round at the top, and fitted with square covers that pull down like a Dutch smoker's cap.

   • 2004 May 11, Sgt Len Scott RAPC, “My Billets in Algiers: A Pub, a Casino and a Bank”, in BBC‎^[1], retrieved 16 April 2023:

     We found little piles in the oddest places - the oddest being within an Ali Baba jar some six feet high.

   • 2020, Marchell Abrahams, chapter 7, in Angels at Twenty Past, Troubador Publishing, →ISBN:

     Behind what looked like—but surely couldn't be—an oversized Ali Baba laundry basket dribbling earth and pebbles over the floor, peeped a save.

   • 2003, Nigel Slater, “Duckling à l’orange”, in Toast, Fourth Estate, published 2010, →ISBN:

     And don’t forget to put your dirty clothes in the Ali Baba.

Translations

a fictional character

• Arabic: عَلِيّ بَابَا m (ʕaliyy bābā)
• Armenian: Ալի-Բաբա (Ali-Baba)
• Bengali: আলী বাবা (alī baba)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 阿里巴巴 (zh) (Ālǐbābā)

• Czech: Alibaba m
• Danish: Ali Baba
• Esperanto: Ali Babo
• French: Ali Baba m
• Georgian: ალი ბაბა (ali baba)
• Greek: Αλή Μπαμπά m (Alí Bampá), Αλί Μπαμπά m (Alí Bampá)
• Hebrew: עלי באבא m ('ali baba)
• Hindi: अली बाबा m (alī bābā)
• Icelandic: Alí Baba m
• Italian: Alì Babà m
• Japanese: アリババ (Aribaba)
• Korean: 알리바바 (Allibaba)
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: Алибаба (Alibaba), Али Баба (Ali Baba)
• Marathi: अली बाबा m (alī bābā)
• Persian: علی بابا ('ali bâbâ)
• Polish: Ali Baba (pl) m
• Portuguese: Ali Babá m
• Russian: Али́-Баба́ m (Alí-Babá)
• Slovak: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: Alí Babá m
• Tajik: Алибобо (Alibobo)
• Thai: อาลีบาบา (aa-lii-baa-baa)
• Turkish: Ali Baba
• Urdu: علی بابا m ('alī bābā)
• Uyghur: ئەلى بابا (eli baba)

Polish

Ali Baba

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic عَلِيّ بَابَا (ʕaliyy bābā).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈa.li ˈba.ba/

• Audio 1

  (file)

• Audio 2

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aba

Proper noun

Ali Baba m pers

1. Ali Baba (fictional protagonist of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, famous for his encounter with forty thieves and their treasure trove cave that opens on the command “open sesame”)

Declension

Declension of Ali Baba

	singular
nominative	Ali Baba
genitive	Ali Baby
dative	Ali Babie
accusative	Ali Babę
instrumental	Ali Babą
locative	Ali Babie
vocative	Ali Babo

Further reading

• Ali Baba in Polish dictionaries at PWN