bubbe

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English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from Yiddish באָבע (bobe).

Pronunciation

  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 376: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈbʊbə/, /ˈbʌbə/, /ˈbʊbi/, /ˈbʌbi/
  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 376: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "GA" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈbʊbə/, /ˈbɔbə/, /ˈbʊbi/, /ˈbɔbi/
  • Audio of /ˈbʊbə/ (US):(file)

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."

See also

References

  • OED 2006