Word: baba Part of Speech: noun Etymology: As one of the first utterances many babies are able to say, baba (like mama, papa, and dada) has come to be used in many languages as a term for various family members: * father: Albanian, Arabic, Western Armenian, Chinese, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, Greek, Marathi, Marshallese, Mingrelian, Nepali, Persian, Swahili, Turkish, Yoruba, Shona, Zulu * grandmother: many Slavic languages (such as Bulgarian, Czech, Russian, Serbo-Croatian and Polish; a doublet of bubbe), Romanian, Yiddish, Japanese * grandfather: Azerbaijani, Zulu (father, grandfather) * baby: Afrikaans, Sinhala, Hungarian These terms often continue to be used by English speakers whose families came from one of these cultures. In some cases, they may become more widely used in localities that have been heavily influenced by an immigrant community. Some senses were extensions of one of these family terms in the original languages ("old woman" from "grandmother", "holy man" from "father"). The "cake" sense comes through French, from Polish baba (“old woman”). The Middle Eastern word baba (as in Ali Baba) is rather a term of endearment, and is ultimately derived from Persian بابا (bābā, “father”) (from Old Persian pāpa; as opposed to the Arabic words أَبُو (ʔabū) and أَب (ʔab); see also Papak), and is linguistically related to the common European word papa and the word pope, having the same Indo-European origin. The Chinese word "baba", meaning father, comes from 爸爸. Pronunciation: /ˈbɑːbɑː/, /ˈbɑːbə/, /ˈbæbə/ 1. A kind of sponge cake soaked in rum-flavoured syrup. Labels: also, uncountable, usually Example: The trolley of fresh local cheeses, including the region's pride, mozzarella di bufala, is as attractive as the trolley of classic Neapolitan desserts, including pastiera napolitana (a ricotta cake with orange rind), feather-light baba, and, in mid-March, zeppola di San Giuseppe (whose feast day is March 19), a sweet bun filled with custard and black cherry. 2. A grandmother. Labels: countable, usually Example: My baba, Ksenia Dubinsky, tells me that my education makes her proud. Example: 2001, Brattleboro Remembers, edited by the Brattleboro [Vermont] Historical Society, Arcadia Publishing I walked first for my grandmother, and my mother was sorry she had missed my first steps. My Baba was so proud, my mother later told me. 3. An old woman, especially a traditional old woman from an Eastern European culture. Labels: broadly, countable, usually Example: Only two women, typical "babas" (peasant women) in the house from which I got my quilt and bedcloth, could be coaxed to pose; Example: Laura hadn't known that anyone's mother could look like that, like the babas you sometimes saw downtown, bandaged in kerchiefs and aprons, sitting toothless in stockinged feet on small verandahs, peeling potatoes or beets or just shaking their heads and grimacing. 4. A father. Labels: countable, usually Example: The first time I signed my exercise I wrote "Pisistratus Caxton" in my best round-hand. "And dey call your baba a scholar!" said the Doctor, contemptuously. Example: "The greatest gift and honor is having you for a daughter. I've missed you so." "I've missed you too, baba." 5. A holy man, a spiritual leader. Labels: Hinduism, Sikhism, countable, usually Example: While I was in Port Alberni, three babas came to Canada to raise money ... Example: But according to Ray, 'all the babas my uncle knew were genuine. None of them was exposed. They were fairly humble people, not show-offs like the Maharishi ... 6. A baby, child. Labels: British, India, countable, usually Example: That is to say, if I do not take care, I shall go on calling my darling 'Baba' till she is as old as her mamma, and has a dozen Babas of her own. Example: For my child is dead—my baba is dead! 7. In baby talk, often used for a variety of words beginning with b, such as bottle or blanket. Labels: countable, usually Example: Oh, it's storytime! Let me get my baba.