A relatively new word in the English language, bae is slang for baby or babe. Bae is a a term for one’s significant other or a term of address for one’s significant other. Bae is first seen in African-American rap songs in the early 2000s, though it was 2012 or so when the term bae truly leaped into the public consciousness with the Bae caught me slippin’ meme. The word bae seems to have been formed simply by dropping the second consonant sound, the story that bae stands for “before anyone else” seems to be apocryphal.
A bay is 1.) a small inlet, 2.) a small recess in a wall, 3.) a compartment in an aircraft used for a specific purpose, 4.) an area inside a building where one services a vehicle, 5.) the sound a hound makes when treeing or tracking prey, 5.) the production of the sound a hound makes when treeing or tracking prey, 6.) certain plants with leaves used as laurel wreaths or in cooking, 7.) a reddish-brown color of horses or other fur-bearing animals. Bay is used as a noun, adjective and verb, related words are bays, bayed, baying.
Examples
With Sam YG, Alden hosts the opening segment That’s My Bae, which is a variation of the show’s Mr. Pogi search (among whose winners were Jericho Rosales and Edgar Allan Guzman). (The Philippine Star)
On Wednesday, Pharrell dropped a video for his new single, “Come Get It Bae,” which may immediately raise some questions, such as “Come get what?” and “What in the world does bae mean, anyway?” (Time Magazine)
The analysis found that the biggest water consumers in the Bay Area include oil refineries run by companies like Chevron and Shell, the UC campuses in Berkeley and San Francisco, country clubs with golf courses, and a handful of manufacturing plants producing things like sugar, steel and high-end electric cars. (The San Francisco Chronicle)
Sick ISIS militants behead man they accuse of being a sorcerer in front of baying mob (The Daily Star)