babushka

• babooshka, baboushka

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

• (UK) IPA^(key): /bəˈbuːʃ.kə/

• Audio (UK)

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babushka (plural babushkas or babushki)

1. An old woman, especially one of Eastern European descent.
   1. (By association) A stereotypical, Eastern European peasant grandmother-type figure.
2. A traditional floral headscarf worn by an Eastern European woman, tied under the chin.
   • 1966, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 5, in The Crying of Lot 49, New York: Bantam Books, published 1976, →ISBN, page 79:

     “Say hello to old Stanley,” he called as she pattered down the steps into the street, flung a babushka over her license plate and screeched away down Telegraph.

   • 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

• Note that the Russian term ба́бушка (bábuška, “grandmother, granny; old woman”) doesn't have the sense "Russian doll, matryoshka" or "woman’s headscarf".

• dedushka

• babusya
• bubbe (possibly cognate)