lullaby

English

Alternative forms

lullabye (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English lullen (“to lull”) + bye. First recorded circa 1560. Compare Old English bī, bī (“lullaby!”, interjection).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈlʌləbaɪ/
Audio (US): (file)

Noun

lullaby (plural lullabies)

A cradlesong, a soothing song to calm children or lull them to sleep.
sing a lullaby

Synonyms

Related terms

hushaby
lull

Translations

a soothing song to lull children to sleep

Afrikaans: slaapliedjie, wiegeliedjie
Albanian: nina-nanë
Arabic: تَهْوِيدَة f (tahwīda)
Armenian: օրոր (hy) (ōror), օրորոցային (hy) (ōrorocʻayin)
Assamese: নিচুকনি গীত (nisukoni git)
Azerbaijani: layla, laylay
Bashkir: сәңгелдәк йыры (səñgeldək yırı), бишек йыры (bişek yırı)
Basque: lo-kanta, sehaska-kanta
Belarusian: калыха́нка f (kalyxánka)
Bikol Central: lúlay, layláy (bcl)
Breton: luskellerez (br) f
Bulgarian: приспивна песен f (prispivna pesen)
Burmese: ကျူးသောသီးချင်း (kyu:sau:si:hkyang:)
Buryat: үлгын дуун (ülgyn duun)
Catalan: cançó de bressol (ca) f, vou-verivou m (Mallorca)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 催眠曲 (ceoi¹ min⁴ kuk¹), 搖籃曲／摇篮曲 (jiu⁴ laam⁴ kuk¹)

Hokkien: 育囡仔歌 (zh-min-nan) (io-gín-á-koa), 育囝歌 (io-kiáⁿ-koa, io-káⁿ-koa)

Mandarin: 催眠曲 (zh) (cuīmiánqǔ), 搖籃曲／摇篮曲 (zh) (yáolánqǔ)
Czech: ukolébavka (cs) f
Danish: godnatsang
Dutch: slaapliedje (nl) n, wiegeliedje (nl) n, wiegelied (nl) n
Esperanto: lulkanto
Estonian: hällilaul, unelaul
Finnish: tuutulaulu (fi)
French: berceuse (fr) f
Galician: nana (gl) f, arrolo m
Georgian: იავნანა (iavnana)
German: Schlaflied (de) n, Wiegenlied (de) n
Greek: νανούρισμα (el) n (nanoúrisma)
Ancient: βαυκάλημα n (baukálēma)
Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
Hebrew: שִׁיר עֶרֶשׂ (he) m (shir eres)
Hindi: लोरी f (lorī)
Hungarian: altatódal (hu), bölcsődal (hu)
Icelandic: vögguvísa (is) f
Ido: bersokanto (io)
Indonesian: nina-bobok
Irish: suantraí f
Italian: ninna nanna (it) f
Japanese: 子守歌 (ja) (こもりうた, komoriuta), ララバイ (ja) (rarabai)
Javanese: please add this translation if you can
Kalmyk: өлгән дун (ölgän dun)
Kazakh: бесік жыры (besık jyry)
Khmer: ទំនុកបំពេរ (tumnuk bɑmpee)
Korean: 자장가 (ko) (jajangga), 자장노래 (jajangnorae)
Lao: ເພງກ່ອມເດັກ (phēng kǭm dek)
Latin: lallus m
Latvian: šūpļa dziesma f
Lithuanian: lopšinė f
Macedonian: приспивна песна f (prispivna pesna)
Malay: dondang, nyannyan pengulit, nina-bobok
Malayalam: please add this translation if you can
Manx: arrane cadlee m
Maori: taiapo, pōpō, ngāoriori, oriori
Marathi: अंगाईगीत (mr) n (aṅgāīgīt)
Mongolian: бүүвэйн дуу (büüvejn duu)
Norman: bèrcheuse f
Norwegian:
Bokmål: vuggesang
Persian: لالایی (fa) (lâlâyi)
Plautdietsch: Wieejeleet n
Polish: kołysanka (pl) f
Portuguese: canção de embalar f, canção de ninar (pt) f (Brazil)
Romanian: cântec de leagăn (ro) n
Russian: колыбе́льная (ru) f (kolybélʹnaja) (пе́сня (pésnja))
Scottish Gaelic: òran tàlaidh m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: успаванка f, уљуљка f, уколевка f

Roman: uspavanka (sh) f, uljuljka f, ukolevka
Sicilian: avò f, (lavò f, la vo f); ninna-nanna f, (italianism)
Slovak: uspávanka (sk) f
Slovene: uspavanka (sl) f
Spanish: canción de cuna (es) f, nana (es) f, canto de cuna m, arrullo (es) m
Swedish: vaggvisa (sv) c, vaggsång (sv) c
Tagalog: oyayi, lulay
Tamil: தாலாட்டு (ta) (tālāṭṭu)
Telugu: జోలపాట (te) (jōlapāṭa), లాలిపాట (te) (lālipāṭa)
Thai: เพลงกล่อมเด็ก (pleeng-glɔ̀m-dèk)
Turkish: ninni (tr)
Turkmen: hüvdi, laý
Ukrainian: колиско́ва f (kolyskóva)
Uzbek: alla (uz)
Vietnamese: bài hát ru
Volapük: klädömakanit, klädömalid
Walloon: hosseuse (wa) f
Welsh: hwiangerdd f, suo-gân f
Yiddish: וויגליד n (viglid)
Zulu: please add this translation if you can

Verb

lullaby (third-person singular simple present lullabies, present participle lullabying, simple past and past participle lullabied)

(transitive) To sing a lullaby to.