What Does BB Mean: Know the Meaning of the Acronym
With the rise of social media and online messaging platforms, the world has seen an increase in acronyms. Although many people will text or even say BB as a cute name for someone, there are other meanings to the word. In this article, we’ll also show you the history of BB, how to use BB, and other meanings of it so you can get a better understanding of the term.
The History of Acronym BB
It’s common knowledge that people have been calling their romantic partner “baby” for a long time. The extensive use of the term started in the 2010s, when smartphones and online messaging apps became common among teenagers. Both friends and lovers started using BB as the pet name. This acronym first found its place in Urban Dictionary in 2006.
How to Use BB
Like most other short-form online terms, this abbreviation is usually written lowercase, not uppercase. People can use various other abbreviations to mean baby, such as “b” or “bby.” Here are some ways you can use BB in a sentence:
- Hi bb, how are you?
- You look so good, bb!
- Aw, what’s wrong bb girl?
What Does BB Mean Apart From Baby
With so many words and phrases that can be shortened to BB, it’ll be wrong to assume that it only means baby. Readers should also be aware of the other meanings or full forms of this acronym. So what does BB mean in text besides Baby?
General Use
BB can be used as a short for “Best Bud” describing a best friend or best buddy. In chats, you may see it referring to “Bye-Bye” which is relatively rare these days. The young generation sometimes uses it for “Bad Bitch” referring to a confident woman. It’s popular in rap songs and pop culture. Similar to that, “Bad Boy” can refer to a man with edgy and rebellious characteristics.
If someone says BB gun, it indicates a type of air gun. In the beauty industry, BB cream stands for blemish balm cream. BB with uppercase in online texting can also mean “be back”.
Sports
First, let’s explore what BB means in sports. In a dedicated sporting community, this usually refers to basketball. If someone is discussing baseball and mentions it, they may want to mean base on ball or a walk. People also use BB% which means “base on balls rate” — the statistical percentage of how many times a pitcher lets a batter walk. You can also refer to a bodybuilder.
Tech
On the other hand, tech communities use this acronym as the short form of the bulletin board. BBCode means the markup language people use on their websites. People can also use it to refer to BlackBerry, the prominent communications company that used to produce smartphones.
Another application for BB is for “Broadband”, a high-speed internet connection, widely used when talking about general web browsing, streaming, video conferencing, and more.
Finance
Sometimes BB comes as an abbreviation for “Billions” and is usually alongside a number. For example, in some financial documents or reports, you may see $3 billion as $3BB. In addition, people use it for “Bloomberg, ” which is the name of a financial and data company that mainly offers business and finance news.
Science and Medicine
In science conversations and documents, you can come across BB as the “Big Bang”, the physical theory and cosmological event that started the universe. Medical staff and people who are experts in the field, have a tendency to use the term instead of “Blood Bank”, the facility designed for storing donated blood and plasma.
TV World
In the cultural domain this acronym can mean Big Brother, a reality TV show where strangers live in the same house. It can stand for Breaking Bad, a popular American crime drama TV series created by Vince Gilligan and starring Bryan Cranston.
The TV show began airing in January 2008 and was on AMC television channel for five seasons until September 2013. After more than 10 years, it’s still part of the conversation online and people frequently refer to it as BB.
Gaming World
Gaming communities are very fond of using acronyms in various group chats and forums, mostly for game names or characters. One popular use in gaming conversations is bb as “Bloodborne”, the popular action RPG game developed by FromSoftware and released in 2015 for PlayStation 4. Another common one is “Big Boss,” which is a beloved character in the Metal Gear video game series.
The acronym can refer to an item or ability in a video game. A good example of this is among the League of Legends community, a popular MOBA game where players call an ability that grants increased mana regeneration, the Blue Buff or in short, BB.
Wrapping Up: A Tiny Acronym with Big Meanings
Apart from its common meaning “baby,” this acronym can have other connotations. After reading all the meanings mentioned above, you can easily understand the text that contains BB. Keep in mind that the term can have other meanings. If the explanation above doesn’t fit your situation, check your field or ask your colleagues to avoid confusion.
Note that this acronym is used primarily in a casual and friendly context, and most of the time, it means baby. However, in some rare cases, especially financial text, it can be used formally. For example, when it means Billion.
