Example sentences
bà爸bà爸zài在zuò做fàn饭。
Dad is cooking.
nǐ你bà爸bà爸zài在jiā家ma吗？
Is your dad home?
About this word
Two copies of 爸, the word for father, doubled. Chinese kinship terms lean on doubling: 妈妈 mom, 哥哥 older brother, 姐姐 older sister, 妹妹 younger sister, 爷爷 grandpa. The second copy goes neutral tone, so it lands as BAH-ba with a light second beat. Doubling softens a word the way a diminutive does in English, which is why the doubled form became the everyday, affectionate one while a bare 爸 sounds clipped and abrupt. 父亲 is the formal counterpart, the one you write on a form.
The story behind the character
爸
爸 is 父 (father) on top and 巴 below, which is there only for the sound. Xu Shen's dictionary doesn't include it; the first clear record is the Guangya, a third century word list, which glosses 爸 as 父也, father. Notice how many unrelated languages settle on baba or papa for dad. Babies say ba long before they can say much else, so parents everywhere heard a name in it.