bubbe
A grandmother.
Noun
- A grandmother.
- The Bube explained the situation in voluble Yiddish, and made Esther wince again under the impassioned invective on her clumsiness. […] If the family died of starvation, their blood would be upon her grand-daughter's...
- I never met my bubbe, my grandma, the source of all my mother's Yiddish proverbs, […] - 1987, Linda Barnes, chapter 1, in A Trouble of Fools (A Fawcett Crest Book), New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 1:
- I dedicate this book to my late grandparents, Morris and Bala Baellow. My bubbe’s inability to write in English turned out to be a blessing: she pressed me into service as her scribe at an early age. - 1992, Steven C....
- An elderly woman.
- "I wanna more chocolate, bubbe," said Karl. […] "You heard the bubbe," said Josie. "There isn't any. You act up and cry and I'll give you the back of my hand." - 1979 December, Stephen Longstreet, chapter 15, in The...
Origin
Borrowed from Yiddish באָבע (bobe, “grandmother”), and then either from a Slavic language or from eastern Middle High German bābe (“old woman”), both from Proto-Slavic *baba (“old woman”) and ultimately imitative of a child’s babbling. Doublet of baba.