Reference reading
bay bul
Reference reading0:00 / Listen
How to pronounce Babel
Babel is pronounced BAY-buhl, rhyming with "table". BAB-uhl, like "babble", is also correct and is how the Babel.js team says it.
Babel
- IPA
- /ˈbeɪbəl/
- Say it like
- BAY-buhl
BAYbuhl
The controls above compare IPA spellings. Reference recordings are below.
Both accents use BAY-buhl. BAB-uhl, which sounds like "babble", is a recognized variant listed mainly by American dictionaries.
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Compare a reference reading, a direct machine reading, and a contextual sentence. These are not separate US and UK recordings.
Direct machine reading
Babel
Direct machine reading0:00 / Listen
In a sentence
旧浏览器靠 Babel 兼容。
In a sentence0:00 / Listen
COMMON MISTAKES
How people get Babel wrong
Often heard
buh-BEL
Stressing the second syllable, as in the French reading of the name or the Chinese 巴别. English always stresses the first syllable: BAY-buhl.
SayBAY-buhl
Often heard
BAH-bel
Reading the first a as in "father", the way German does. For the Tower and the compiler, English dictionaries list only BAY-buhl or BAB-uhl.
SayBAY-buhl
Often heard
BAY-BELL
Giving the second syllable a full "bell" vowel. It is unstressed and reduced to a quick "buhl", like the end of "table".
SayBAY-buhl
IN A SENTENCE
Hear Babel in a sentence
The Tower of Babel story explains why people speak so many different languages.
Our build uses Babel to compile modern JavaScript for older browsers.
I finally finished reading Babel by R. F. Kuang last weekend.
PRACTICE
Record yourself and compare
Tap record, say Babel once, and compare the rhythm of your waveform with the reference. Your recording stays in your browser and is never uploaded.
Reference
Yours
What does Babel mean?
In the Bible (Genesis 11), Babel is the city where people began building a tower meant to reach heaven. God stopped the project by confusing their language so they could no longer understand one another, and they scattered across the earth. From this story, lowercase "babel" came to mean a confused noise of many voices or languages, as in "a babel of voices".
Many modern works borrow the name. Babel is a widely used JavaScript compiler, renamed from 6to5 in 2015, that turns new JavaScript syntax into code older browsers can run; its README says it is pronounced "babble". Babel is also R. F. Kuang's 2022 fantasy novel about a translation institute in 1830s Oxford, and a 2006 film by Alejandro González Iñárritu starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett.
The word comes through Latin from Hebrew Bavel, the Hebrew name for Babylon, which goes back to Akkadian bab-ilu, "gate of god". Genesis plays on the Hebrew verb balal, "to confuse". The English verb "babble" sounds similar but is generally traced to imitation of baby talk, not to Babel.
FAQ
Babel pronunciation FAQ
The questions people ask most when they look up Babel.
Is Babel pronounced BAY-buhl or BAB-uhl?+
Both appear in major dictionaries. Oxford, Cambridge (UK), Collins, Random House and American Heritage give BAY-buhl as the main pronunciation, so it is the safest choice. BAB-uhl, which sounds like "babble", is an accepted variant found mainly in American dictionaries.
How do you say Babel, the JavaScript compiler?+
The Babel project says it is pronounced "babble" (BAB-uhl); its GitHub README links to a recording by its creator, Sebastian McKenzie. Plenty of developers still say BAY-buhl, and either will be understood.
How do you pronounce Babel by R. F. Kuang and the movie Babel?+
Both titles refer to the Tower of Babel, so the standard BAY-buhl fits. Because dictionaries also accept BAB-uhl, you may hear readers and moviegoers use either form.
Is Babel related to the word "babble"?+
They sound alike and are often linked, but etymologists generally trace "babble" to imitation of baby talk. The Oxford English Dictionary, quoted by Etymonline, says no direct connection with Babel can be traced, though Babel may have influenced its meaning.
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