babe
Americannoun
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babes
plural
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a baby or child.
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an innocent or inexperienced person.
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Southern U.S. Usually Babe (used, often before the surname, as a familiar name for a boy or man, especially the youngest of a family.)
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Slang.
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Sometimes Disparaging and Offensive. a girl or woman, especially an attractive one.
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an attractive young man.
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Sometimes Babe an affectionate or familiar term of address (sometimes offensive when used to strangers, casual acquaintances, subordinates, etc., especially by a male to a female).
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idioms
noun
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a baby
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informal a naive, gullible, or unsuspecting person (often in the phrase a babe in arms )
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informal a young woman or man perceived as being sexually attractive
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of babe
First recorded in 1150–1200; 1915–20 babe for def. 4; Middle English; early Middle English baban, probably nursery word in origin
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"Yeah I said it, sorry babe," he continued, adding that he would "get in trouble for this."
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
And I’m like, babe, I would if I could.”
From Salon ● Jun. 24, 2026
“Yep they aren’t compatible babe girl only wants a man with $$$,” one reply reads.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 3, 2026
And I’m like, ‘No, babe, that’s No. 1.’
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2025
“The mother says it’s still her babe, but the father came through here just yesterday. Looked as though he’d lost everything. He said the child is a monster, and his wife has gone mad.”
From "Huntress" by Malinda Lo
She’s marginally more sophisticated, or perhaps just less conflicted than he is, but both are babes in the woods and a temperamentally matched set.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2025
She ended her message: "Guten Tag babes x"
From BBC ● Jan. 31, 2024
The theater is humming with happy cast and crew, some with their little kids who had been babes in arms while the movie was shot — and ended up as extras.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 8, 2023
The public opening on Saturday afternoon drew a diverse, enthusiastic crowd: grandparents and parents and babes in arms.
From New York Times ● Nov. 3, 2022
Thousands remained outside Meereen’s thick walls—men and women and children, old men and little girls and newborn babes.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
