Etymology: < Ottoman Turkish bābā holy man of a Sufi order, head of a tekke (Turkish baba ; < Persian bābā , form of address for a respected (male) person, also more specifically for a Sufi master: see baba n.²); in quots. 1759 and 1820 respectively via Dutch and French; in later use frequently via Albanian baba minister of religion of the Bektashi Sufi order, head of a tekke.

Etymology: Partly < Urdu bābā father, form of address for a respected (male) person, e.g. a Sufi master, also used as term of endearment or address for a (male) child, and partly (in Sikh use in sense 2) < Panjabi bābbā father, form of address for a respected (male) person, e.g. a religious leader, both either borrowed < or formed similarly to Persian bābā father, grandfather, form of address for a respected (male) person (see baba n.⁵), used specifically as a title for a Sufi master (compare baba n.¹), and also as form of endearment or address for a (male) child, especially one's own. Compare Prakrit bappa father. In recent use in sense 3 perhaps influenced by baby n.With sense 2 in Sikh and Hindu use compare guru n. With Muslim uses compare baba n.¹ The use of a word originally meaning ‘father’ to address (male) children (compare sense 3) is apparently a more widespread phenomenon in India. Other Indo-Aryan languages have similar words with the primary sense ‘father’, used as a form of address both for respected adults and for children, e.g. especially Assamese bāpā, Oriya bhabuvā, which are also used to address young men.

Etymology: < French baba (1767) < Polish baba (although it is apparently attested later: c1790 or earlier), in the same sense, ultimately the same word as baba baba n.⁶ Compare Czech bába , Russian baba , Serbian and Croatian baba , all denoting a kind of cake, and similar forms in other Slavonic languages. Compare later babka n., and also baba au rhum n., rum baba n. at rum n.² Compounds 3.

Etymology: < Malay baba, babah Straits Chinese man, apparently also used formerly to denote colonial-born Europeans < Persian bābā father, grandfather, form of address for a respected (male) person, or its equivalent Urdu bābā (see baba n.²). Compare Chinese bābā ( < Malay; not related to Chinese bàba father: see baba n.⁵).

Etymology: Probably < the (reduplicated) syllable /ba/ which is characteristic of early infantile vocalization. Compare earlier bab n., papa n.², and also dad n.¹Superficially similar words for ‘father’ also occur in other languages around the world; these are parallel formations and not genetically related. Compare e.g. (in Asia) Persian bābā , Chinese bàba , (in Africa) Zulu ubaba . Compare also (in different sense) the Baltic and Slavonic forms cited at baba n.⁶

Etymology: < Russian baba (Old Russian baba ) ‘woman’, ‘wife’, ‘grandmother’, ‘old woman’, ‘peasant woman’, cognate with Old Church Slavonic baba wet nurse (Bulgarian baba old woman, grandmother, mother-in-law, midwife, hag), Ukrainian baba , Polish baba , Czech bába , Serbian and Croatian baba , in similar senses, and similar forms in other Slavonic languages (some of which may have reinforced the English word in later use); further cognate with Lithuanian boba old woman, wife, Latvian bāba woman, peasant woman; probably ultimately < a reduplicated syllable which is characteristic of early infantile vocalization (compare mama n.¹). Compare earlier Baba Yaga n., babushka n., baba n.³, babka n.

Etymology: < Zulu baba, vocative of ubaba father (see baba n.⁵).