To save this word, you'll need to log in.
Definition of baby talk
1a : the consciously imperfect or altered speech used by adults in speaking to small children
b : the syntactically imperfect speech or phonetically modified forms used by small children learning to talk
2 : oversimplified speech or writing
Examples of baby talk in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web In fact, sound designers made baby talk recordings and married the tones with a synthesizer to get R2-D2's nearly human sounds.
—
Aj Willingham, CNN, "A weightlifting hero, Kung Fu nuns and an adorable Christmas thief," 21 Dec. 2019 Talk to her in a normal voice (no baby talk or raised voices), but don’t overdo it because too much talk can trigger submissive urination, too.
—
Cathy M. Rosenthal, ExpressNews.com, "Dog’s submissive peeing a tricky thing to fix," 18 Oct. 2019 My mother catered to Noosie’s every whim, speaking to her in Arabic baby talk, and her anticipation for grandchildren became less latent.
—
Marlo Safi, National Review, "The American Art of Obsessing over Your Pets," 24 Aug. 2019 Sanad alternated effortlessly between babbling baby talk to his cousin Salma and cracking jokes with the adults.
—
Washington Post, "Your baby bump photos terrify me. Here’s why.," 2 Aug. 2019 Maybe adults don't understand baby talk, but this dad didn't let a little gibberish get in the way of a conversation with his son.
—
Wesli Jones, CNN, "Must-watch videos of the week," 7 June 2019 There was plenty of baby talk during Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's royal engagements today.
—
Erica Gonzales, Harper's BAZAAR, "Meghan Markle Talks About Her Due Date and the Sex of Her Baby," 14 Jan. 2019 Getty Images After a whirlwind trip of Australia featuring koalas, a whole lot of baby talk, and endless adorable PDA moments, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have now begun the second leg of their royal tour.
—
Lucy Wood, Marie Claire, "Meghan Markle Decided Not To Wear a Tiara for Her First State Dinner," 23 Oct. 2018 Even Harry himself got in on the baby talk during his speech at the opening ceremony of the 2018 Invictus Games.
—
Kayleigh Roberts, Marie Claire, "Prince Harry Referenced His Baby With Meghan Markle During His Invictus Games Speech," 21 Oct. 2018
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'baby talk.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Keep scrolling for more
Keep scrolling for more
Comments on baby talk
What made you want to look up baby talk? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
Test Your Vocabulary
February 2020 Words of the Day Quiz
- Which is a synonym of probity?
Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?
TAKE THE QUIZ
Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.
TAKE THE QUIZLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridgedWords at Play
Ask the Editors
Word Games
Share baby talk
Time Traveler for baby talk
The first known use of baby talk was in 1788
See more words from the same year