באָבע

• באַבע (babe), בובע (bube)

Either inherited from eastern Middle High German bābe (“old woman”) or independently borrowed from a Slavic language. In both cases eventually from Proto-Slavic *baba (“old woman”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɔbə/

באָבע • (bobe) f, plural באָבעס (bobes)

1. granny, grandmother

   Synonyms: פֿראַלע (frale), אָמאַ (oma), גראָסמאַמאַ (grosmama), גראָסמוטער (grosmuter), גרויסמוטער (groysmuter)

This is one of few Yiddish nouns to inflect, optionally becoming באָבען (boben) in the dative, and באָבעס (bobes) in the possessive.

• באָבע־מעשׂה f (bobe-mayse, “tall story, fairy tale”)
• אור־באָבע f (ur-bobe), עלטער־באָבע f (elter-bobe, “great-grandmother”)

• באָבעשי f (bobeshi, “granny”)