ਬਾਪੂ

What does bapu mean in Punjabi? Bapu (ਬਾਪੂ), pronounced baa-poo, is the warm and respectful Punjabi word for father, the word most children use for their dad at home. It sits between the formal pita and the plain baap: close enough for family talk, and respectful enough to use in front of anyone.

Meaning

Punjabi has several words for father, and each carries a different tone. Pita is the formal word, found in writing and careful speech. Piu is an older, tender word still heard in songs and in village speech. Baap is plain and direct, and in the wrong tone it can sound blunt. Bapu is the everyday middle ground for most families: affectionate, respectful, and natural to say from childhood into old age. Adding ji, as in bapu ji, raises the respect a little further.

Why is Gandhi called Bapu?

Across India, bapu became the affectionate name of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, honoured as the father of the nation. Reference works on the name note that bapu means father, that its respectful form is bapuji with the honorific ji added, and that Punjabi bapu belongs to the same family of father words as baap. So when Indians call Gandhi Bapu, they are using the same household word a Punjabi child uses at home, widened to a whole country.

Is bapu only used for your own father?

No. In everyday Punjabi usage, children also address an elderly man or a respected father figure as bapu, even when he is not a relative. It is a way of giving an older man the standing of a father. In the paired phrase bebe bapu, the word simply means father, standing for parents together with bebe, mother.