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

Explanation

If you're Russian or Polish, your babushka is your grandmother. If she wears a scarf covering her hair and tied under her chin, you can call that a babushka, too. People from Slavic countries usually shorten babushka to address their grandmas as "Baba," "Babulya," or "Busia." In some cases, they might also refer to grandmotherly women in general as babushkas. From this "grandmother" meaning, the word also came to describe a headcovering that was once commonly worn by older ladies, especially in rural areas of Eastern Europe.