Babu
/ˈbɑː.buː/noun
A respectful title used in South Asia, especially in India, or an educated clerk or gentleman in older colonial usage.
Did you know?Babu ultimately comes from a South Asian honorific meaning “father” or “sir,” and in British India it also became a loaded label for a clerical, English-educated man of status.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*ph₂tḗr
“father”
Sanskrit
Skt
bābā
“father; term of affection or respect”
Prakrit / Indo-Aryan
IA
babu
“father; respected man; elder”
19th Century
English
babu
“an Indian gentleman or clerk; a respectful title”
Modern English
English
babu
“a respectful South Asian title or, in some contexts, an educated clerk”