baba

¹ American  

[bah-buh, ba-ba] / ˈbɑ bə, baˈba /

noun

babas plural

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. null 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.

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baba ² American  

[bah-buh, bah-bah] / ˈbɑ bə, ˈbɑ bɑ /

Or Baba

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.

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baba British  

/ baba, ˈbɑːbɑː /

noun

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

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• babas
  plural

Etymology

Origin of baba¹

First recorded in 1820–30; from French, from Polish: literally, “old woman, peasant woman,” a nursery term of imitative origin ( cf. 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; cf. dad ¹ ( def. ), papa ( def. )

Example Sentences

"With the cooperation of hunters, police and firefighters, I believe we took all possible measures available to us" to catch it, Baba said.

From Barron's • Jun. 5, 2026

I am supposed to be the daughter of my Baba, Mr. Green Thumbs.

From Salon • May 9, 2026

At Mrs. Riley’s boardinghouse, Ryui is taken under the wing of Torajiro “Jack” Baba, a cynical photographer with an avant-garde aesthetic.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 27, 2026

They were telling him to drop Baba from his 30-year-old shop's name.

From BBC • Feb. 12, 2026

The only water around was in the bottles Baba Joseph had brought.

From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer