Dictionary

bubbe en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈbʌ-/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈbʊbə/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈbɔ-/ (General-American)
• /ˈbʊbə/ (General-American)
• /-bi/ (General-American)
• /-bi/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (General-American) audio
• /ˈbʌ-/ (General-American)

Etymology

Borrowed from Yiddish באָבע (bobe, “grandmother”), and then either from a Slavic language or from eastern Middle High German bābe (“old woman”), both from Proto-Slavic *baba (“old woman”) and ultimately imitative of a child’s babbling. Doublet of baba.

Meanings

1. (in Jewish contexts) A grandmother.
   • I dedicate this book to my late grandparents, Morris and Bala Baellow. 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. 1992, Steven C. Dubin, “Acknowledgements”, in Arresting Images: Impolitic Art and Uncivil Actions, Abingdon, Oxfordshire; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, published 1994, →ISBN, page x:
   • Once, when I poked my stick in a bed of brown leaves, I found a shimmery snakeskin. When I showed my bubbe, she said I had found a memory of the snake, and that memories were precious. 1998, Elizabeth Sussman Nassau, “Raisins and Almonds”, in Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Dov Peretz Elkins, editors, Chicken Soup for the Jewish Soul: Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit, Deerfield Beach, Fla.: Health Communications, published 2001, →ISBN, part 5 (Family), page 238:
   • I never met my bubbe, my grandma, the source of all my mother's Yiddish proverbs, […] 1987, Linda Barnes, chapter 1, in A Trouble of Fools (A Fawcett Crest Book), New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 1:
   • The Bube explained the situation in voluble Yiddish, and made Esther wince again under the impassioned invective on her clumsiness. […] If the family died of starvation, their blood would be upon her grand-daughter's head. 1892, I[srael] Zangwill, “The Sweater”, in Children of the Ghetto […], volume I, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, book I (The Children of the Ghetto), page 34:
2. (in Jewish contexts) An elderly woman.
   • "I wanna more chocolate, bubbe," said Karl. […] "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." 1979 December, Stephen Longstreet, chapter 15, in The Dream Seekers, Los Angeles, Calif.: Pinnacle Books, published January 1981, →ISBN, page 174:

Forms

Coordinates

zayde

Relateds

bubbe meise · babushka