babushka

[buh-boosh-kuh, -boosh-]

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.

babushka

/ bəˈbuːʃkə /

noun

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

2. (in Russia) an old woman

Word History and Origins

Origin of babushka¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of babushka¹

Russian: grandmother, from baba old woman

Example Sentences

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

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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.

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

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

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

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