Baby

See also: baby

English

Etymology

Two main origins:

• Borrowed from Malayalam ബേബി (bēbi), a surname typically found in Kerala.
• Borrowed from French Baby.

Proper noun

Baby (plural Babys)

1. A surname.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Baby is the 36426^th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 614 individuals. Baby is most common among Asian/Pacific Islander (71.01%) and White (19.54%) individuals.

Further reading

• Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Baby”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 1, New York City: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 78.

Cebuano

Etymology

From baby. Also from an error in birth registration. When the parent has not decided on a name of the child, the child is often listed as baby + surname.

Proper noun

Baby

1. a female given name
2. (rare) a male given name

German

Etymology

Mid-19th-century borrowing from English baby. The use as a term of endearment is a later borrowing from late-20th-century pop culture; it remains far commoner in pop music than in real life.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbeːbi/

  • Audio

    (file)

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɛɪ̯bi/ (rather unusual for the sense “infant”, but often in the slang sense)

Noun

Baby n (strong, genitive Babys, plural Babys or (now proscribed) Babies, diminutive Babychen n or Babylein n)

1. baby (infant)

   Synonyms: Säugling, Bébé

2. (music or slang) baby (term of endearment for a lover)

Declension

Declension of Baby [neuter, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	Baby	die	Babys, Babies1
genitive	eines	des	Babys	der	Babys, Babies1
dative	einem	dem	Baby	den	Babys, Babies1
accusative	ein	das	Baby	die	Babys, Babies1

¹Now proscribed.

Derived terms

• Babybauch
• babyeinfach
• Babykleidung
• babyleicht
• Babyphon
• Babypuder
• Babyschuh
• Babysprache
• Babytragetasche
• Babywäsche
• Babywippe (“baby bouncer”)

 

Related terms

• Babysitter

 

Descendants

• → Lower Sorbian: baby
• → Upper Sorbian: baby

Further reading

• “Baby” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Baby” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “Baby” in Duden online
• Baby on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de