寶寶

寶寶

See also: 宝宝

Chinese

		a jewel or gem; a treasure; precious	a jewel or gem; a treasure; precious
trad. (寶寶)		寶	寶
simp. (宝宝)		宝	宝
variant forms		保保

Etymology

A diminutive of 寶／宝 (bǎo, “treasure, precious”) formed by reduplication.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): bǎobao, bǎobǎo

  (Zhuyin): ㄅㄠˇ ˙ㄅㄠ, ㄅㄠˇ ㄅㄠˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): bou² bou²

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, standard in Mainland and Taiwan)⁺
    • Pinyin: bǎobao
    • Zhuyin: ㄅㄠˇ ˙ㄅㄠ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: bao.bau
    • IPA ^(key): /pɑʊ̯²¹⁴ b̥ɑʊ̯⁴/
      
  • (Standard Chinese, variant)
    • Pinyin: bǎobǎo [Phonetic: báobǎo]
    • Zhuyin: ㄅㄠˇ ㄅㄠˇ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: baobao
    • IPA ^(key): /pɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻³⁵ pɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
    • Homophones:

      [Show/Hide]
      edit edit 保保 寶寶／宝宝

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: bou² bou²
    • Yale: bóu bóu
    • Cantonese Pinyin: bou² bou²
    • Guangdong Romanization: bou² bou²
    • IPA ^(key): /pou̯³⁵ pou̯³⁵/

Noun

寶寶

1. baby; newborn

   我的寶寶叫王小雲。 [MSC, trad.]
   我的宝宝叫王小云。 [MSC, simp.]

   Wǒ de bǎobǎo jiào Wáng Xiǎoyún. [Pinyin]

   My baby’s name is Wang Xiaoyun.

2. (affectionate) darling; honey (often said of a child or lover); sweetheart
3. (neologism, slang) item; merchandise; product

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 嬰兒 (“baby; infant”) [map]
Variety	Location	Words edit
Classical Chinese		嬰
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		嬰兒, 嬰孩
Mandarin	Taiwan	嬰兒, 寶寶
	Luoyang	娃娃
	Jiedian	胎娃
	Xuzhou	小毛娃兒
	Wuhan	毛頭伢, 毛頭, 毛毛伢, 毛毛, 伢伢
	Guiyang	嫩娃娃
	Nanjing	小毛娃, 毛娃, 小寶寶
Cantonese	Guangzhou	蘇蝦仔, 阿蝦, 臊妹
	Hong Kong	蘇蝦仔, 蘇蝦, 啤啤, 啤啤仔
	Dongguan	蘇蝦仔, 啤啤, 啤啤仔
Gan	Nanchang	毛伢子
	Lichuan	毛伢崽
	Pingxiang	毛毛仔
Hakka	Meixian	孲𤘅仔
	Xingning	孲𤘅哩
	Huidong	孲𤘅仔
	Qujiang	孲𤘅子
	Xiaosanjiang	嫩仔
	Changting	孲𤘅子, 赤蝦子
	Pingyu	蝦毛子
	Wuping	孲𤘅子, 赤蝦子
	Liancheng	孲𤘅子
	Yudu	伢人子, 毛伢子
	Ruijin	孲𤘅子, 赤蝦子
	Shicheng	赤伢
	Shangyou	伢毛子
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	孲𤘅仔
	Liudui (S. Sixian)	孲𤘅仔
	Hsinchu (Hailu)	孲𤘅, 孲𤘅仔
	Dongshi (Dabu)	孲𤘅
	Hsinchu (Raoping)	孲𤘅仔, 孲𤘅
	Yunlin (Zhao'an)	阿佅, 嬰仔
Huizhou	Jixi	細妹
Jin	Taiyuan	小娃娃
	Xinzhou	小娃子
Min Bei	Jian'ou	𤘅仔
Min Dong	Fuzhou	兒囝囝
Min Nan	Xiamen	嬰仔
	Quanzhou	嬰仔
	Zhangzhou	嬰仔, 嬰哥, 紅嬰仔, 紅嬰
	Taipei	嬰仔
	Kaohsiung	紅嬰仔
	Tainan	紅嬰仔
	Taichung	紅嬰仔
	Hsinchu	紅嬰仔
	Lukang	紅嬰仔
	Sanxia	紅嬰
	Yilan	紅嬰仔
	Kinmen	嬰仔
	Philippines (Manila)	嬰仔
	Leizhou	儂
Pinghua	Nanning	娃娃
Wu	Shanghai	小毛頭, 小小囡, 毛毛頭
	Suzhou	小毛頭, 毛毛頭, 血泡泡
	Hangzhou	小毛頭兒, 小毛頭, 毛頭兒, 毛毛頭
	Wenzhou	娒兒, 娒娒兒
	Chongming	小小囡
	Danyang	小毛毛, 毛毛
	Jinhua	王男
	Ningbo	奶花, 小毛頭, 毛頭奶花, 孲𤘅, 抱手
Xiang	Changsha	毛毛, 毛毛它, 毛它
	Loudi	毛毛唧, 毛毛

• (darling): 寶貝／宝贝 (bǎobèi), 心肝寶貝／心肝宝贝 (xīngān bǎobèi)

Derived terms

寶寶粉／宝宝粉 (bǎobaofěn)

寶寶裝／宝宝装

Pronoun

寶寶

1. (neologism, slang, humorous) a cute-sounding first-person pronoun usually used by females: I; me

   嚇死本寶寶了！ / 吓死本宝宝了！  ―  Xià sǐ běn bǎobao le!  ―  It frightened the pants off me. [cute]