babes
- 1Plural of babe.
The shelter took in three women with newborn babes during the storm.
The poster for the surf movie was covered in tanned beach babes.
Note
A regular plural, babe plus -s, and it carries each meaning of the singular along with its register: newborn babes belongs to literary writing, beach babes to slang. Because the two sit so far apart, the surrounding words usually make plain which is meant. The same spelling also serves as the pet name for a single person.
- 2Alternative form of babe, used as a term of endearment for someone you love.
Morning, babes, did you sleep okay?
Text me the minute your plane lands, babes.
Note
Only one person is meant here. The -s is an affectionate ending, the kind that turns a name into a nickname, so babes is babe made fonder rather than babe multiplied. It belongs to direct address and is usually tucked onto a greeting or a question, as in Are you all right, babes?
babes is a form of babe
babe, noun: An affectionate form of address, used like darling. Full entry
- Forms
- babebabes plural
- Spelling
- babe → babes: add -s
- Sound
- The ending sounds like /z/.
Use it in a sentence
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Origins
Formed from babe with the plural ending -s.
Formed from babe with the hypocoristic (pet-name) suffix -s.