babble
/ˈbæb.(ə)l/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.77 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To make a continuous murmuring noise, like shallow water running over stones.
Intransitive verb
verb
To utter in an indistinct or incoherent way; to repeat words or sounds in a childish way without understanding.
Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "The men were babbling, so we couldn't make sense of anything."
- "She babbled on for hours about the importance of some new gadget."
- "Radical rather than rhetorical, babble like an oracle"
- "Hounds are said to babble, or to be babbling, when they are too noisy after having found a good scent."
- "In every babbling brook he finds a friend."
- "All this vvhile John had conn'd over ſuch a Catalogue of hard VVords, as vvere enough to conjure up the Devil; theſe he uſed to babble indifferently in all Companies, eſpecially at Coffee-houſes; ſo that his Neighbour Tradeſmen began to ſhun his Company as a Man that vvas crack'd."
Etymology
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.