Babysit: Looking After a Child, a House, or a Problem
To babysit is to look after a child while the parents are out. The word has spread far beyond children, and is now used for anything that needs constant watching.
Babysit is a back-formation from *babysitter*: the job existed as a noun before anyone used it as a verb. It means to care for a child for a short, paid or unpaid stretch. The joke buried in the word is the sitting — the sitter stays put while the parents go out.
- To look after a child temporarily. *Can you babysit on Friday?*
- To watch over anything needing attention. *I babysat the server all weekend.*
- To supervise someone too closely (informal, critical). *I am not here to babysit grown adults.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | babysit | She babysits at weekends. |
| Past | babysat | I babysat for them twice. |
| Person | babysitter | We found a babysitter. |
| Activity | babysitting | Babysitting pays well here. |
| Compound | babysitting circle | A babysitting circle among neighbours. |
How it is used in a sentence
- He babysits for his sister every Thursday.Babysit for a parent, babysit a child.
- Could you babysit the twins until nine?Direct object — the children themselves.
- The new system does not need babysitting.The extended sense, common in technical work.
Sit as a verb of caretaking
- House-sit — stay in a home while the owners are away
- Pet-sit or dog-sit — look after animals
- Plant-sit — water someone's plants, usually said with a smile
- All follow the pattern set by babysit, which appeared in American English in the 1940s
The past tense is *babysat*, not babysitted, because the verb inherits the irregular past of *sit*. The same holds for house-sat and dog-sat.
Babysit for or babysit?
Both are correct. You babysit the children and you babysit for the parents.
Is babysit only for babies?
No. It covers children well past infancy, which is why older children often object to the word.