babushka

Contents

EnglishEdit

Alternative formsEdit

• babooshka, baboushka

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from Russian ба́бушка (bábuška, “grandmother, granny”), diminutive of ба́ба (bába, “old woman”).

PronunciationEdit

• (UK) IPA^(key): /bəˈbuːʃ.kə/

NounEdit

babushka (plural babushkas)

1. An old woman.
2. A woman’s headscarf, tied under the chin.
   • 1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin 2006, p. 78:

     The crowd falls silent, momentarily stunned, while a heavyset woman in a babushka pushes her way through, broadcasting the news […].

3. Russian doll, matryoshka (mistranslation)

TranslationsEdit

an old woman

• Esperanto: maljunulino, oldulino, maljuna virino
• Russian: ба́бушка (ru) f (bábuška), стару́ха (ru) f (starúxa), стару́шка (ru) f (starúška)

• Spanish: anciana f, viejita f, viejecita f, vieja (es) f, señora mayor f, mujer vieja f

woman’s headscarf tied under the chin

• Esperanto: kaptuko, ŝalo, kapfulardo
• Icelandic: skýla f, skýluklútur m, skýlyklútur bundinn undir höku m

• Russian: плато́к (ru) m (platók), шаль (ru) f (šalʹ), косы́нка (ru) f (kosýnka)

matryoshka — see Russian doll