What in the world does BAE mean, anyway?

Though this word was used in the 1500s to refer to sheep sounds, today BAE is used as a term of endearment, often referring to your boyfriend or girlfriend. 

There is no doubt that more people are encountering this word and wondering what it means.

Some competing origin stories say that BAE is in fact the acronym BAE, standing for “before anyone else.” Others argue that bae is simply a shortened version of babe, which would similarly account for the rare ae juxtapostion. Slangsters do love to embrace the “dropped letter” versions of slang words. The term’s usage took off in 2013 and continues to rise. And as more people say bae, it’s likely that the meaning will shift in any case. 

A good rule of thumb for now at least: if you would use the words boo or babe in some circumstance, you can probably use bae.