baby
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
4 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "baby", 4-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "baby" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "baby" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
baby is aEnglishnoun. It means: A very young human, particularly from birth to a couple of years old or until walking is fully mastered. Pronounced /ˈbeɪ̯.bi/. It ranks #547 in English word frequency. Often confused with by and BB.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | baby |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbeɪ̯.bi/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #547 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for baby is 4 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈbeɪ̯.bi/. Corpus data places it at rank #547 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 13 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 5 documented wrong-spelling variants for baby, with forms such as "babby", "babyy", and "bayb". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "by", "BB", "bad", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰā- Proto-Germanic *bō-redup. Proto-Germanic *babô Proto-West Germanic *babō Old English *baba Middle English babe Old English -iġ Middle English -y Middle English baby English baby From Middle English baby, babie (“baby… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is baby, spelled B-A-B-Y, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A very young human, particularly from birth to a couple of years old or until walking is fully mastered.
- 2A very young human, even if not yet born.
- 3Any very young animal, especially a vertebrate; many species have specific names for their babies, such as kittens for the babies of cats, puppies for the babies of dogs, and chicks for the babies of birds. See :Category:Baby animals for more.
- 4A person who is immature, infantile, or feeble.
- 5A person who is new to or inexperienced in something.
- 6The lastborn of a family; the youngest sibling, irrespective of age.
- 7A person's romantic partner; a term of endearment used to refer to or address e.g. one's girlfriend, boyfriend, or spouse.
- 8A form of address to a person considered to be attractive.
- 9A concept or creation endeared by its creator.
- 10A pet project or responsibility.
- 11An affectionate term for anything.
- 12A small image of an infant; a doll.
- 13One who is new to an identity or community.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰā- Proto-Germanic *bō-redup. Proto-Germanic *babô Proto-West Germanic *babō Old English *baba Middle English babe Old English -iġ Middle English -y Middle English baby English baby From Middle English baby, babie (“baby”), a diminutive form of babe (“babe, baby”), equivalent to babe + -y/-ie (“endearing and diminutive suffix”). Perhaps ultimately imitative of baby talk (compare babble).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: babby,babyy,bayb,bbaby,bbay
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for baby
Misspelling Variants of "baby"
Frequency rank: #547 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter B in our English index: