Barbabelle, a purple female member of the Barbapapa family, is one of seven children born to Barbapapa and Barbamama. She maintains the family's blob-like form—featuring a head and arms but no legs—while consistently appearing more slender than the male characters. Her color remains officially purple, though early animation occasionally depicted it as magenta.

Her personality centers on aesthetics and femininity, driving strong interests in fashion, jewelry, perfume, and makeup, often requiring significant time for personal grooming. She confidently declares herself the family's most beautiful member and exhibits dramatic reactions to discomforts, aligning with a drama queen archetype.

A core trait is her intense fear of small, hairy creatures like caterpillars and spiders. Encounters provoke exaggerated responses, including fainting, occasionally causing friction with her furry sibling Barbabeau, who finds these reactions irritating.

Within family dynamics, Barbabelle participates in collective adventures while maintaining distinct interests. Her interactions highlight contrasts with siblings—such as Barbabravo's athleticism or Barbalib's intellectualism—without undermining her role in problem-solving or family cohesion. In environmental narratives, her beauty-focused perspective sometimes diverges from conservation themes, though she contributes to resolutions using shapeshifting abilities.

She appears across adaptations: emerging from Barbamama's egg in the original book series, solidifying core traits in the 1974 animated series, and continuing through *Barbapapa Around the World* during global travels. The 2019 series *Barbapapa: One Big Happy Family!* retains her personality while expanding episode lengths for nuanced scenarios like peer relationships or family challenges.