bebe

See also: Appendix:Variations of "bebe"

Casiguran Dumagat Agta

Noun

bebe

1. woman

References

• A Dumagat (Casiguran) - English Dictionary, Pacific Linguistics: Series C, No. 28 (as bébe)
• ABVD (as bɨ'beq)
• Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (as bə-be)

Fijian

Etymology

From Proto-Central Pacific *bebe, from Proto-Oceanic *(kau-)bebek.

Noun

bēbē

1. lepidopteran (any insect of the order Lepidoptera), including:
   1. butterfly (superfamily Papilionoidea)

      E taleitaka o koya na bebe karakarawa ni ra totoka sara.

      S/he likes blue butterflies as they are very beautiful.

   2. moth (nocturnal insects not in the superfamily Papilionoidea)

      Na bebe e dau vuka volekata na cina ena bogi.

      Moths often fly around lights at night.

References

• Gatty, Ronald (2009), “bebe”, in Fijian–English Dictionary‎^[1], Suva, Fiji: Ronald Gatty, →ISBN, page 18

Galician

Verb

bebe

1. inflection of beber:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

German

Pronunciation

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Verb

bebe

1. inflection of beben:
   1. first-person singular present
   2. first/third-person singular subjunctive I
   3. singular imperative

Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French bébé (“baby”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /beˈbe/

Noun

bebe

1. baby

References

• Targète, Jean; Urciolo, Raphael (1993), Haitian Creole-English Dictionary‎^[2], Dunwoody Press, →ISBN, page 23

Interlingua

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /beˈbe/
• Rhymes: -e
• Hyphenation: be‧be

Noun

bebe

1. baby (very young human being)

   Synonym: baby

Japanese

Romanization

bebe

1. Rōmaji transcription of べべ

Kapampangan

Alternative forms

• bebai (obsolete)

Etymology

From earlier bebai, from Proto-Philippine *baybay. Compare Tagalog baybay.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbebe/ [ˈbɛː.bɛː]
• Hyphenation: be‧be

Noun

bébé

1. seashore
2. riverbank
3. mountainside

Derived terms

• bebebe
• binebayan
• binebe
• mabebe
• Macabebe
• makabebe
• minebe

Makasar

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbebe/, [ˈɓɛ.bɛ]
• Hyphenation: be‧be

Noun

bebe (Lontara spelling ᨅᨙᨅᨙ or 𑻤𑻵𑻵, definite bebea)

1. drool

Synonyms

• piʼru (saliva)
• iloroʼ (moisture in the mouth)

Affixations

• aʼbebe
• bebèi

Further reading

• A. A. Cense (2024), Makassaars-Nederlands woordenboek‎^[3], Brill, →DOI

Papiamentu

Etymology

From Portuguese beber and Spanish beber and Kabuverdianu bebi.

Verb

bebe

1. to drink

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛ.bi/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛ.bɨ/ [ˈbɛ.βɨ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛ.bɨ/ [ˈbɛ.βɨ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛ.bɨ/

• Audio (Portugal (Porto)):

  (file)

Verb

bebe

1. inflection of beber:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Raga

Etymology

From Proto-Oceanic *(kau-)bebek (“butterfly”).

Noun

bebe

1. lepidopteran (any flying insect of the order Lepidoptera), including:
   1. butterfly (superfamily Papilionoidea)
   2. moth (nocturnal insects not in the superfamily Papilionoidea)

Derived terms

• bebe-an̄oga (yellow-coloured lepidopterans)
• bebe-bwaratu (“swallowtail moth (family Uraniidae)”)
• bebe-huhu (“owlet moth (family Noctuidae)”)
• bebe-tibwa-tibwa, bebe-tibwatibwa (“great eggfly, common eggfly (Hypolimnas bolina)”)
• bebe-ure (“hawk moth, sphinx moth (family Sphingidae)”)
• bebe-ḡal-ḡalana (variegated and multi-coloured lepidopterans)

Descendants

• ⇒ Bislama: nambembe (from na bebe)

References

• Walsh, D.S.; Leona, R.; Pond, W. (2000), “Some Raga vocabulary for terrestrial invertebrates, reptiles and mammals of North Pentecost”, in Palmer, B., Geraghty, P., editors, SICOL Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Oceanic Linguistics: Vol. 2, Historical and descriptive studies (Pacific Linguistics; PL-505)‎^[4], Canberra, ACT: Australian National University, →DOI, page 241 of 231–260: “4.4.3.2.2 Order: Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths)”

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French bébé and also influenced by English baby.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbe.be/, /beˈbe/

Noun

bebe m (uncountable)

1. baby, infant

   Synonyms: bebeluș, copilaș

Declension

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	bebe	bebeul
genitive-dative	bebe	bebeului
vocative	bebeule

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	bebe	bebele
genitive-dative	bebe	bebelui
vocative	bebe

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /beˈbe/
• Hyphenation: be‧be

Noun

bebé n (Cyrillic spelling бебе́, diminutive bebénce)

1. (Torlakian) baby, infant

   Synonym: béba

References

• Radmila Žugić (2005), Rečnik govora jablaničkog kraja, Belgrad: Institut za srpski jezik SANU, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 16
• Јовановић, Властимир (2004), Речник села Каменице код Ниша, Belgrade: Институт за српски језик САНУ, →ISSN, page 33

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbebe/ [ˈbe.β̞e]

• Audio (Venezuela):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ebe
• Syllabification: be‧be

Etymology 1

Variant of bebé.

Noun

bebe m (plural bebes, feminine beba, feminine plural bebas)

1. (Peru) baby

   Synonyms: bebé, wawa

Etymology 2

Verb

bebe

1. inflection of beber:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “bebe”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Sranan Tongo

Etymology

Probably from Fon gbɛ̀gbɛ́-tín (“Pterocarpus tree”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bebe/, [bɪ̞bɪ̞], [be̝be̝]

Noun

bebe

1. any tree of the genus Pterocarpus

Derived terms

• basrabebe
• bergibebe
• dyukabebe
• heigronbebe
• manbebe
• watrabebe

Tagalog

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈbebe/ [ˈbɛː.bɛ]
• Rhymes: -ebe
• Syllabification: be‧be

Noun

bebe (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜒᜊᜒ) (colloquial)

1. alternative form of beybi

Derived terms

• bbq

Ternate

bebe

Etymology

From Indonesian bebek.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbe.be]

Noun

bebe

1. a duck

References

• Rika Hayami-Allen (2001), A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh

Tiruray

Noun

bebe

1. grandchild

Turkish

Etymology

Alteration of bebek (“baby”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /beˈbe/, [be̞ˈbɛ]

Noun

bebe (definite accusative bebeyi, plural bebeler)

1. (colloquial) child, kid, baby
2. (colloquial) brat

Declension

Declension of bebe

singular plural nominative bebe bebeler definite accusative bebeyi bebeleri dative bebeye bebelere locative bebede bebelerde ablative bebeden bebelerden genitive bebenin bebelerin Possessive forms nominative singular plural 1st singular bebem bebelerim 2nd singular beben bebelerin 3rd singular bebesi bebeleri 1st plural bebemiz bebelerimiz 2nd plural bebeniz bebeleriniz 3rd plural bebeleri bebeleri definite accusative singular plural 1st singular bebemi bebelerimi 2nd singular bebeni bebelerini 3rd singular bebesini bebelerini 1st plural bebemizi bebelerimizi 2nd plural bebenizi bebelerinizi 3rd plural bebelerini bebelerini dative singular plural 1st singular bebeme bebelerime 2nd singular bebene bebelerine 3rd singular bebesine bebelerine 1st plural bebemize bebelerimize 2nd plural bebenize bebelerinize 3rd plural bebelerine bebelerine locative singular plural 1st singular bebemde bebelerimde 2nd singular bebende bebelerinde 3rd singular bebesinde bebelerinde 1st plural bebemizde bebelerimizde 2nd plural bebenizde bebelerinizde 3rd plural bebelerinde bebelerinde ablative singular plural 1st singular bebemden bebelerimden 2nd singular bebenden bebelerinden 3rd singular bebesinden bebelerinden 1st plural bebemizden bebelerimizden 2nd plural bebenizden bebelerinizden 3rd plural bebelerinden bebelerinden genitive singular plural 1st singular bebemin bebelerimin 2nd singular bebenin bebelerinin 3rd singular bebesinin bebelerinin 1st plural bebemizin bebelerimizin 2nd plural bebenizin bebelerinizin 3rd plural bebelerinin bebelerinin

Further reading

• “bebe”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu

West Makian

Etymology

Reduplication of be (“water”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /be.ˈbe/

Verb

bebe

1. (transitive, informal) to drink

   Synonym: joube (polite)

Conjugation

Conjugation of bebe (action verb)

		singular	plural
			inclusive	exclusive
1st person		tebebe	mebebe	abebe
2nd person		nebebe	febebe
3rd person	inanimate	ibebe	debebe
	animate
imperative		nebebe, bebe	febebe, bebe

References

• Clemens Voorhoeve (1982), The Makian languages and their neighbours‎^[5], Pacific linguistics (as bebé)