Kilo Lingo

Line drawing of babili
Coloured illustration of babili
#1494 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

to chat, to chatter

Word origin

From French babiller, 'to prattle'. Like English babble and Italian babbolare it is imitative, formed on the ba-ba noise infants make, which is why so many unrelated languages hit on nearly the same word.

Origin
French
Root
babiller
English cognates
babble, babbling

Examples

.

We chatted the whole evening.

.

The children are chattering instead of working.

.

I like chatting with my friends.

is the light, sociable end of talking: gossip over coffee rather than a speech. It is intransitive, so you chat someone and something. Online chat took the same root, which is why an Esperanto chat room is a o and instant messaging is .

Where this fits

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Esperanto · Free printables

babili: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Esperanto word "babili" (to chat, to chatter): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is part of lesson 30.