bubbe meise

noun

An old wives' tale; a fairytale.

OriginYiddish באָבע־מעשׂה →
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Meanings

nounbubbe meise (plural bubbe meises)

plural bubbe meises · alternative bube meise

  1. JudaismAn old wives' tale; a fairytale.
    1 more example

    If you look ahead to the second book of the Maccabees, you will see that Judah did not embrace the life of the tzaddik […] No, Judah discovered […] that war, not holiness, is good business. He spent the years after the Maccabean victory pillaging whatever small settlements happened to strike his fancy. So if some Hebrew school teacher feeds you full of bubbemeises about the Jews only having enough sacred oil to light the eternal flame for one day […] don't believe it for a minute.

    1988 December 4, Liz Galst, “Lesbian Maccabee Unmasked!”, in Gay Community News, volume 16, number 21, page 7

Origin

  1. Yiddishבאָבע־מעשׂה
  2. Englishbubbe meise

Borrowed from Yiddish באָבע־מעשׂה (bobe-mayse).

More words from Yiddish

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

bubbe meise. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bubbe%20meise

MLA

“bubbe meise.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bubbe%20meise. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bubbe meise,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bubbe%20meise.

Source: bubbe meise on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.