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babu

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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See also: Babu and baboe

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Hindi बाबू (bābū).

Pronunciation

Noun

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

Etymology

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

Noun

babu

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

Bunun

Etymology

From Proto-Austronesian *babuy.

Noun

babu

  1. pig (livestock)

Indonesian

Alternative forms

Etymology

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

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

Noun

babu (plural babu-babu)

  1. housemaid

Derived terms

  • memperbabu
  • babu cuci
  • babu dalam
  • babu masak
  • babu tetek

See also

Further reading

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Jarawa

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Noun

babu

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

References

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

Javanese

Romanization

babu

  1. Romanization of ꦧꦧꦸ

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

Noun

babu

  1. accusative/instrumental singular of baba

Old Javanese

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

Noun

babu

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

Derived terms

Descendants

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

Further reading

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

Noun

babu (Cyrillic spelling бабу)

  1. accusative singular of baba

Shabo

Adjective

babu

  1. two

Slovak

Pronunciation

Noun

babu

  1. accusative singular of baba

Swahili

Swahili Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sw

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Noun

babu class V (plural mababu class VI)

  1. grandfather (from either side)
  2. ancestor, forebear
Coordinate terms

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Arabic بَاب (bāb).

Noun

babu class IX (plural babu class X)

  1. chapter

Tagalog

Alternative forms

Etymology

A play on babay or English bye-bye.

Pronunciation

Interjection

babú (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜊᜓ)

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

Ternate

Pronunciation

Verb

babu (Jawi بابو)

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

Conjugation

More information singular, plural ...

References

  • 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

Etymology

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

Noun

babu

  1. bean

Inflection

More information Inflection of (inflection type 1/ilo), nominative sing. ...

References

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

Yindjibarndi

Noun

babu

  1. father

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