"baby" in seven languages

Meaningbaby

Spanish

bebé

/beˈbe/

masc.borrowed · French bébé

French

bébé

/bebe/

masc.borrowed · English baby (19th c.)

Italian

bebè

/beˈbɛ/

masc.borrowed · French bébé

Italians more often say bambino, bimbo or neonato 'newborn'.

Portuguese

bebê

/beˈbe/

masc.borrowed · French bébé

European Portuguese writes bebé.

Romanian

bebeluș

/bebeˈluʃ/

masc.borrowed · French bébé, with the Romanian diminutive -luș

Catalan

nadó

/nəˈdo/

masc.other source · Catalan nat 'born' (Latin NĀTUM) + -ó

English

baby

/ˈbeɪbi/

from Latin/French · English

English → ItalianbabybebèCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share

The ancestor

English baby‘baby (a nursery word)’

All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.

A modern word that went round the family: English baby gave French bébé, which Spanish and Italian took over with its end-stress.