babushka
/bəˈbuːʃ.kə/noun
babushka is spelled B-A-B-U-S-H-K-A: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 11 million words in written English, the 100,430th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, babushka means “An Eastern European old woman” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of babushka is babushkas or babushki.
How many letters and syllables are in babushka?
| Letters | 8: B-A-B-U-S-H-K-A |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 11 million words; the 100,430th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is babushka?
Babushka appears about once in every 11 million words in written English, the 100,430th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce babushka?
- UK /bəˈbuːʃ.kə/
Babushka has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-babushka.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of babushka
- babushkas plural
- babushki plural
- babooshka
- baboushka
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does babushka mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An Eastern European old woman.
- 2
A Russian grandmother.
- 3
A traditional floral headscarf worn by an Eastern European woman, tied under the chin.
- 4
A Russian doll, a matryoshka.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Babushka in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense an old woman:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does babushka come from?
Borrowed from Russian ба́бушка (bábuška, “grandmother”), from Old East Slavic бабушка (babuška, “grandmother, midwife”). First attested in the 1830s.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).