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

See Examples For:

baba babas

"My baby called, come baba police is here, police come to our door," he says.

From BBC ● Mar. 2, 2025

That said, it's important to use particular eggplants for particular uses; you'll need a different eggplant for baba ghanoush than you would for eggplant rollatini, for example.

From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2023

In the standard Mandarin spoken in China, for instance, baba — father — is pronounced with an emphasis on the first syllable, said Hongyin Tao, a professor of Chinese language and linguistics at UCLA.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 5, 2023

Her baba aux muses verte cake was “supposed to be fully centered around Chartreuse.”

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 18, 2023

The table filled up with olives, purple marinated turnips, plates of baba ghanouj and hummus, and hot flat breads, even before the real lunch came.

From "Habibi" by Naomi Shihab Nye

As a result, this specific babbling bent makes "dadas," "babas" and "papas" – along with "apas" and "abas" – very popular things for little Carlos or Keisha to say while hanging out in the crib.

From Salon ● Jun. 18, 2022

“Families marching three-by-three. Hurrah! Hurrah! Families marching three-by-three. These babas are nonbinary. They love each other so proudly. And they all go marching in the big parade!”

From Washington Times ● Jun. 2, 2021

John Whaite confusing salt and sugar in a technical round, causing Paul Hollywood to retch over his rum babas!

From The Guardian ● Aug. 26, 2019

In the first week, he came second-to-last in the technical bake after using salt instead of sugar to line the tin for his rum babas.

From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2016

He stared down at his babas hanjari, still looped into his belt.

From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray