BAE

Texting & Internet Slang abbreviation · Dating and Relationship

BAE
Stands forBabe or baby (backronym: before anyone else)
CategoriesTexting & Internet Slang

BAE stands for Babe or baby (backronym: before anyone else), a dating and relationship abbreviation.

Affectionate term for a romantic partner, and by extension anything the speaker loves, as in "pizza is bae." It peaked on social media in 2014.

Example: Movie night with bae, she picked the scariest film possible.

Usage notes

Most linguists see "bae" as a shortening of "babe" or "baby" from African American Vernacular English; "before anyone else" is a later backronym. Pharrell's 2014 song "Come Get It Bae" and brand tweets helped push it into the mainstream, after which many people found it overused. In Danish, "bæ" means poop, a frequently shared joke.

More dating and relationship abbreviations

  • BB – Baby (term of endearment)
  • BBY – Baby (term of endearment)
  • BF – Boyfriend
  • DF – Dear fiancé
  • DINK – Dual income, no kids
  • DTR – Define the relationship
  • ENM – Ethical non-monogamy
  • FBO – Facebook official
  • FH – Future husband
  • GF – Girlfriend
  • GNSD – Good night, sweet dreams
  • GSOH – Good sense of humour

See all 36 dating and relationship abbreviations →

Edited by the AbbreviationList.com team. Spotted an error or a missing meaning? Contact us.