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baa

noun · verb

Simple meaning

The cry made by sheep.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

beeayay

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

bieɪˈeɪ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. onomatopoeia

    The cry made by sheep

  2. onomatopoeia

    The characteristic cry or bleating of a sheep.

  3. The letter ب in the Arabic script.

  4. An administrative atoll of the Maldives, officially named Maalhosmadulu Dhekunuburi.

verb

  1. Cry plaintively

  2. To make the characteristic cry of a sheep.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced (estimated)
Frequency
Uncommon

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: The cry made by sheep

Used this way, baa is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

baa blackbaa pic

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • baa-lambnounCompound term

    Child's word for a sheep or lamb.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.