See also: Babu and baboe

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Hindi बाबू (bābū).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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babu (plural babus) (India, Hinglish)

  1. A Hindu title of respect, equivalent to Mr., usually appended to the surname of a Hindu man [from 18th c.]
    • 1989, Amitav Ghosh, Shadow Lines:
      I could see Kana-babu’s sweet-shop at the end of their lane with absolute clarity.
  2. (Originally) a Hindu gentleman employed to work as a clerk for the colonial administration; now, a clerk or low-ranking government official. [from 19th c.]
    • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, “His Chance in Life”, in Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio, published 2005, page 57:
      The Babu put on his cap and quietly dropped out of the window
    • 1934 October, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], “Chapter 2”, in Burmese Days, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, →OCLC:
      Office babus are the real rulers of this country now. Our number's up. Best thing we can do is to shut up shop and let 'em stew in their own juice.
    • 2014, James Lambert, “Diachronic stability in Indian English lexis”, in World Englishes, page 116:
      From the prevailing colonial perspective, the English of the babus was error-ridden and characterised by over-elaborate ornateness, and for these ‘transgressions’ it became the butt of native-speaker ridicule.

Derived terms

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Brunei Malay

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Etymology

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From Javanese ꦧꦧꦸ (babu, female servant, literally mother), from Old Javanese babu (mother; older servant), wawuh (familiar, acquainted). Compare Portuguese babo.

Noun

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babu

  1. A mother.
    Synonym: mama
  2. An aunt.
  3. Term for any middle-aged or elderly woman.

Bunun

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Etymology

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From Proto-Austronesian *babuy.

Noun

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babu

  1. pig (livestock)

Indonesian

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Inherited from Malay babu, from Javanese ꦧꦧꦸ (babu, female servant, literally mother), from Old Javanese babu (mother; older servant), wawuh (familiar, acquainted). Compare Portuguese babo.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈbabu/
  • Hyphenation: ba‧bu
  • Rhymes: -bu, -u

Noun

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babu (plural babu-babu, first-person possessive babuku, second-person possessive babumu, third-person possessive babunya)

  1. housemaid

Derived terms

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See also

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Further reading

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Jarawa

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Etymology

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From Hindi बाबू (bābū). Cognate to Önge babu.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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babu

  1. official, officer (of the Indian government of the Andamans)

References

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  • Kumar, Pramod (2012) Descriptive and Typological Study of Jarawa[1] (PhD). Jawaharlal Nehru University. Page 111, 141, 187.

Javanese

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Romanization

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babu

  1. Romanization of ꦧꦧꦸ

Lower Sorbian

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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babu

  1. accusative/instrumental singular of baba

Old Javanese

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Etymology

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Unknown, probably from Proto-Mon-Khmer *(ʔ)boʔ (mother) (compare Temiar buk (mother), Jehai baboʔ (woman), Vietnamese vợ (wife), and Mon ၝောံ (bɜ̀ʔ)).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ba.bu/
  • Rhymes: -bu
  • Hyphenation: ba‧bu

Noun

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babu

  1. mother
    Synonyms: babu, bibi, ibu, iduṅ, ina, inaṅ, induṅ, janmayoni, mātā, matuh, rena
  2. older servant

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • > Javanese: ꦧꦧꦸ (babu) (inherited)
    • Dutch: baboe
    • Brunei Malay: babu
    • Malay: babu
    • Indonesian: babu
    • Peranakan Indonesian: babu
  • Balinese: ᬩᬩᬸ (babu)

Further reading

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  • "babu" in P.J. Zoetmulder with the collaboration of S.O. Robson, Old Javanese-English Dictionary. 's-Gravenhage: M. Nijhoff, 1982.

Serbo-Croatian

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Noun

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babu (Cyrillic spelling бабу)

  1. accusative singular of baba

Shabo

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Adjective

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babu

  1. two

Slovak

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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babu

  1. accusative singular of baba

Swahili

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Swahili Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sw

Pronunciation

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Noun

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babu (n class, plural babu)

  1. grandfather (from either side)

Coordinate terms

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Tagalog

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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A play on babay or English bye-bye.

Pronunciation

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Interjection

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babú (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜊᜓ)

  1. (slang) goodbye; ta ta
    Synonyms: paalam, babay

Ternate

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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babu (Jawi بابو)

  1. (intransitive) (of humans) to fall
    Synonym: doro (of non-humans)
    ngofa ibabuchildren fall
    ibabu toma kahathey fell on the ground
  2. (intransitive) to be overthrown

Conjugation

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Conjugation of babu
Singular Plural
Inclusive Exclusive
1st tobabu fobabu mibabu
2nd nobabu nibabu
3rd Masculine obabu ibabu, yobabu
Feminine mobabu
Neuter ibabu
- archaic

References

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  • Frederik Sigismund Alexander de Clercq (1890) Bijdragen tot de kennis der Residentie Ternate, E.J. Brill
  • Rika Hayami-Allen (2001) A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh

Veps

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Etymology

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From Proto-Finnic *papu. The initial b- was introduced by analogy with Russian боб (bob).

Noun

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babu

  1. bean

Inflection

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Inflection of babu (inflection type 1/ilo)
nominative sing. babu
genitive sing. babun
partitive sing. babud
partitive plur. babuid
singular plural
nominative babu babud
accusative babun babud
genitive babun babuiden
partitive babud babuid
essive-instructive babun babuin
translative babuks babuikš
inessive babus babuiš
elative babuspäi babuišpäi
illative babuhu babuihe
adessive babul babuil
ablative babulpäi babuilpäi
allative babule babuile
abessive babuta babuita
comitative babunke babuidenke
prolative babudme babuidme
approximative I babunno babuidenno
approximative II babunnoks babuidennoks
egressive babunnopäi babuidennopäi
terminative I babuhusai babuihesai
terminative II babulesai babuilesai
terminative III babussai
additive I babuhupäi babuihepäi
additive II babulepäi babuilepäi

References

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  • Zajceva, N. G., Mullonen, M. I. (2007) “боб”, in Uz’ venä-vepsläine vajehnik / Novyj russko-vepsskij slovarʹ [New Russian–Veps Dictionary]‎[2], Petrozavodsk: Periodika

Yindjibarndi

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Noun

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babu

  1. father