baba

¹

[ bah-buh; French ba-ba ]

noun

, plural ba·bas [bah, -b, uh, z, b, a, -, ba].

1. a spongelike cake leavened with yeast and often containing raisins, baked in a small mold and then usually soaked with a rum syrup.
2. Baba. (especially in Slavic or Eastern European cultures) an elderly woman or grandmother:

   In our house lived my parents, my baba—God rest her soul—my three siblings, and me.

baba

²

or Ba·ba

[ bah-buh, bah-bah ]

noun

, Indian English.

1. father (also used as a polite term of address for any older man):

   That's the second lesson my Baba taught me growing up—that consistent hard work is very important and always pays off.

2. a male spiritual leader (also used as a title with the leader’s name):

   I devoured hundreds of religious books, including those by many Hindu babas and sadhus.

   She is a devout follower of Sai Baba, a spiritual leader known for his teachings of love, compassion, and selflessness.

3. a baby or young child.

baba

/ baba; ˈbɑːbɑː /

noun

1. a small cake of leavened dough, sometimes mixed with currants and usually soaked in rum ( rum baba )

Word History and Origins

Origin of baba¹

First recorded in 1820–30; from French, from Polish: literally, “old woman, peasant woman,” a nursery term of imitative origin ( babushka ( def ), mama ( def ) ); the cake was introduced into France by the court of the exiled Polish king Stanislaus I

Origin of baba²

First recorded in 1765–75; from Hindi, Urdu bābā “father, male elder,” a nursery term of imitative origin; dad ¹( def ), papa ( def )

Word History and Origins

Origin of baba¹

C19: from French, from Polish, literally: old woman

Example Sentences

“Maidan is distinctly separate from the current government,” says Baba, a rail-thin man with a long beard who looks like a monk.

From The Daily Beast

“There is no real chain of command in the army,” Baba tells me.

From The Daily Beast

“So-called state leaders are not interested in the state,” Baba says.

From The Daily Beast

She won’t eat, and every night she cries out in her dreams: ‘baba jan (father), baba jan, protect me.

From The Daily Beast

The trilogy follows Kate and Baba, two lasses from the Shannon bogs, from convent school to the bright lights of London.

From The Daily Beast

In fact, except for Ramona's help, it would have been a question whether even Alessandro could have made Baba work in harness.

From Project Gutenberg

Going back we had some long range shots with the 15-inch guns at batteries in rear of Achi Baba.

From Project Gutenberg

The shells came from Asia and Achi Baba:—in a fiery shower, they fell upon the lines of our front trenches.

From Project Gutenberg

We have men enough, and good men too, but we are short of pebbles for Goliath of Achi Baba.

From Project Gutenberg

The upshot of the whole affair is that the enemy still hold a strong line of trenches between us and Achi Baba.

From Project Gutenberg