babble

Meanings

Verb

• To utter words indistinctly or unintelligibly; to utter inarticulate sounds
• To talk incoherently; to utter meaningless words.
• To talk too much; to chatter; to prattle.
• To make a continuous murmuring noise, like shallow water running over stones.
• To utter in an indistinct or incoherent way; to repeat words or sounds in a childish way without understanding.
• To reveal; to give away (a secret).

Noun

• Idle talk; senseless prattle
• Inarticulate speech; constant or confused murmur.
• A sound like that of water gently flowing around obstructions.

Related

Narrower meaning words

• astrobabble
• bizbabble
• econobabble
• edu-babble
• neurobabble
• psychobabble
• sociobabble
• technobabble

Origin

• From Middle English babelen, from Old English *bæblian, also wæflian, 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 onomatopoetic/mimicry of infantile sounds. Cognate with Old Frisian babbelje ("to babble"), Old Norse babbla ("to babble") (Swedish babbla), Middle Low German babbelen ("to babble"), Dutch babbelen ("to babble, chat"), German pappeln and babbeln. Unrelated to Babel.