A somewhat literary or traditional term for an old woman; in everyday speech おばあさん is more common.
Old women often appear in folk tales.
Noh mask of an old woman
A specific mask used in Noh theater to represent an elderly female character.
I saw the old woman mask at the Noh theater.
mountain witch; yamauba
woman who was beautiful in her youth; faded beauty
Sakhalin surf clam
clingfish (Aspasma minima)
basking shark
double weeping rosebud cherry; Prunus pendula
abandoning old women; granny dumping
uba lily; Cardiocrinum cordatum
ubame oak; Quercus phillyraeoides
mountain where old people were abandoned (legend) · dead-end position for an older employee · women's college (obs. slang, derog.)
Standard kanji spelling for 'elderly woman' and the Noh mask.
Alternate kanji form; less common than 姥.
The historical derivation is uncertain; the kanji 姥 is conventionally associated with the meaning 'old woman'.