bubbe

English

Alternative forms

• bubbie
• bobbe
• bobeh
• bubby
• bube

Etymology

Borrowed from Yiddish באָבע‎ (bobe).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbʊbə/, /ˈbʌbə/, /ˈbʊbi/, /ˈbʌbi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbʊbə/, /ˈbɔbə/, /ˈbʊbi/, /ˈbɔbi/

• Audio of /ˈbʊbə/ (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʊbi, -ʊbə, -ʌbi, -ɔːbə, -ɔːbi

Noun

bubbe (plural bubbes)

1. A grandmother.
   • 1994, Steven C. Dubin, Arresting Images, page x:

     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.

   • 1996: Joan C. Hawxhurst, Bubbe & Gram: My Two Grandmothers, blurb

     A little girl describes the various things she does with her Jewish grandmother, Bubbe, and her Christian grandmother, Gram, and what she has learned about both.

   • 1999, Linda Barnes, A Trouble of Fools, page 1:

     I never met my bubbe, my grandma, the source of all my mother's Yiddish proverbs ...

   • 2001: Elizabeth Sussman Nassau, Raisins and Almonds, in Chicken Soup for the Jewish Soul (Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Dov Peretz Elkins, eds.), p238

     When I showed my bubbe, she said I had found a memory of the snake, and that memories were precious.

2. Any elderly woman.
   • 1979 Stephen Longstreet, The Dream Seekers, →ISBN, page 174:

     "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."

Related terms

• bubbe-meise

See also

• zayde

References

• OED 2006

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Sidamo

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbubːe/
• Hyphenation: bub‧be

Noun

bubbe f 

1. wind

Declension

Declension of bubbe (feminine)

	unmodified	modified
predicative	bubbe
nominative	bubbe	bubbe
genitive	bubbete*)	bubbe*)
dative	bubbete	bubbera
accusative	bubbe*)
ablative	bubbetenni	bubbenni
*) Stressed on the final vowel.

References

• Kazuhiro Kawachi (2007) A grammar of Sidaama (Sidamo), a Cushitic language of Ethiopia, page 81
• Gizaw Shimelis, editor (2007), “bubbe”, in Sidaama-Amharic-English dictionary, Addis Ababa: Sidama Information and Culture department