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

Also in the field of women’s monstrosity, there’s Madeline Miller’s Circe and other contemporary feminist retellings, fiction that rehabilitates female villains of legend and literature, from Lady Macbeth to Baba Yaga to Japanese yokai.

From Slate

Indian police say his gang is allegedly linked to the killing of a prominent politician in Mumbai at the weekend - gunmen shot dead 66-year-old Baba Siddique near his son’s office.

From BBC

Baba Ziauddin Siddique, 66, was shot on Saturday night near his car while he was leaving his son's office.

From BBC

Gunmen opened fire on Baba Siddique, 66, near the office of his son, who is also a politician, according to local media reports.

From BBC

With her hand, she reached out to the casket with the body of Ali Al-Rawaas, Baba’s son.

From Los Angeles Times