babushka

American  

[buh-boosh-kuh, -boosh-] / bəˈbʊʃ kə, -ˈbuʃ- /

noun

1. a woman's scarf, often triangular, used as a hood with two of the ends tied under the chin.

2. an elderly Russian woman, especially an elderly grandmother.

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babushka British  

/ bəˈbuːʃkə /

noun

1. a headscarf tied under the chin, worn by Russian peasant women

2. (in Russia) an old woman

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Etymology

Origin of babushka

First recorded in 1935–40; from Russian bábushka “grandmother,” from báb(a) baba ¹ ( def. ) + -ushka, diminutive suffix

Example Sentences

Oliver presents as all sunny, breezy love, sporting a trucker cap over a babushka over bleached pink hair.

From Los Angeles Times

As a boy, I hand-made pelmeni with my babushka Alla, my hands and face covered in flour as we worked in the cold of my grandparents’ basement in Paterson, New Jersey.

From Seattle Times

“My babushka put a salve on it. It’s almost all the way healed.”

From Literature

“She belonged to an old Khazar family. They escaped the old tsar’s slaughter. Fled north, like yer babushka. They had neighbors who...”

From Literature

“There was a 92-year-old babushka who was injured, and we put her on the stretcher and helped get her out.”

From New York Times