Link Centre Dictionary

babble

UK/ˈbæb.(ə)l/ US/ˈbæbʌl/ uncommon
verb (4) noun (1)

verb

1.

utter meaningless sounds, like a baby, or utter in an incoherent way

  • “The old man is only babbling--don”
2.

to talk foolishly

  • “The two women babbled and crooned at the baby”
Synonyms
3.

flow in an irregular current with a bubbling noise

  • “babbling brooks”
Synonyms
4.

noun

1.

gibberish resembling the sounds of a baby

Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English babelen, from Old English *bæblian, also wæflian (“to talk foolishly”), from Proto-West Germanic *bablōn, *wablōn, variants of *babalōn, from Proto-Germanic *babalōną (“to chatter”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰa-bʰa-, perhaps a reduplication of Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to say”), or a variant of Proto-Indo-European *baba- (“to talk vaguely, mumble”), or a merger of the two, possibly ultimately onomatopoeic/mimicry of infantile sounds (compare babe, baby). Cognate with Saterland Frisian babbelje (“to babble”), West Frisian babbelje (“to babble”), Dutch babbelen (“to babble, chat”), German Low German babbeln (“to babble”), German babbeln (“to babble”), Danish bable, bavle (“to babble”), Swedish babbla (“to babble”), Icelandic babla (“to babble”). Unrelated to Babel.

Phrases

  • babble word
  • babbling brook

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Related verbs

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.