Word · Frequency #11831
babe
婴儿；宝宝
a very young child
- 1.
a very young child (birth to 1 year) who has not yet begun to walk or talk
婴儿；未满周岁的孩子
- 2.
(slang) sometimes used as a term of address for attractive young women
对年轻貌美女子的称呼(俚语)
宝贝；美女；婴儿；未满周岁的孩子；对年轻貌美女子的称呼(俚语)；小孩；天真幼稚的人
In use
The nurse carefully placed the babe in the crib.
The young parents were overjoyed when their babe took its first step.
She sang a lullaby to the babe until it fell asleep.
babe (as vocative)
用于亲密关系或熟人之间的亲切称呼。
Hey babe, what's up?
嘿宝贝，怎么了？
be a babe (slang for attractive woman)
俚语用法，通常用于赞美女性外貌。
She is a total babe.
她简直是个大美女。
a babe (infant, somewhat archaic)
此义项较正式或文学化，日常中更常用baby。
The mother cradled her babe in her arms.
Connections
Collocations
- babe in arms
- 襁褓中的婴儿
- The firefighter carried a babe in arms out of the burning house.消防员把襁褓中的婴儿从着火的房子里抱了出来。
- hey babe
- 嗨，宝贝（亲昵称呼）
- Hey babe, are you ready to go?嗨，宝贝，你准备好走了吗？
- hot babe
- 性感美女
- He was staring at a hot babe by the pool.他盯着泳池边的一位性感美女。
- babe magnet
- 吸引美女的男人
- His new motorbike makes him a bit of a babe magnet.他的新摩托车让他有点招美女喜欢。
Idioms & figurative uses
- babe in the woods
- 涉世未深的人；天真易受骗的人He was a babe in the woods when he moved to the big city and fell for a scam.他初到大城市时涉世未深，结果上了一个骗局的当。
Learner notes
Memory Tip
把 babe 想成 baby 少了一个 y，都是“小宝贝/婴儿”；俚语里喊美女也像中文叫“宝贝”，音近“贝贝”好记。
Context & Register
语域：informal 常见场景：close relationships、casual conversation、popular culture babe 表示“宝贝”“漂亮年轻女子”时通常用于口语和非正式场合，多见于亲密关系、朋友之间或流行文化（如歌词、电影）中，正式写作很少使用。作为“婴儿”讲则比较少见，带有文学或老派色彩。
Pronunciation & Spelling
No common word rhymes with babe /beɪb/. The words above all share the 'a_e' spelling that gives the long /eɪ/ vowel in babe, but they end in different consonants (/k, v, s, l/), so they do not rhyme. Watch out for lookalikes such as sale /seɪl/ (same long-a vowel but ends with /l/) and barb /bɑːrb/ (different vowel and final /rb/).
Usage priority
Collins 词频等级为 1，建议结合例句记忆，而不是只背中文释义。
Learn the forms together
页面下方列出了常见词形变化。学习时注意它们在句子中的语法位置。
Dictionary facts from ECDICT, WIKTIONARY.