cubic

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English cubik,^[2] borrowed from Old French cubique, used by Oresme in the 14th century,^[3][4] from Latin cubicus, from Ancient Greek κυβικός (kubikós), from κύβος (kúbos, “cube”), the source of cube.^[3][4][5][6] The Shorter Oxford and Merriam-Webster allow a direct borrowing from the Latin adjective as well.^[5][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In mathematics, containing the cube of a number, as in cubike nombre, a cubic number: about 1450, in a treatise on arithmetic, which also uses cubik as a noun for such a number.^[2] Etymonline likewise dates the sense "being of the third power" to the mid-15th century.^[4] The OED's first record is from 1551, in Robert Recorde's Pathway to Knowledge,^[3] and Dictionary.com dates the word to 1490–1500.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The word began in arithmetic, for a number raised to the third power,^[2][4] and in 1551 Recorde used it both for that and for something having the form of a cube.^[3][4] The sense "of three dimensions, solid", used with units of length to express volume (a cubic foot), is recorded from 1660, in Boyle,^[3] or from the 1650s in Etymonline.^[4] Mineralogists applied it from 1783 to minerals that crystallize in cubes;^[3] from 1878 it also named the isometric system of crystals.^[3] As a noun, a cubic expression or equation is recorded from 1799,^[3][7] and a cubic curve from 1882.^[3] For "shaped like a cube", the OED notes that cubical, attested from the 1590s, is now more usual.^[4][3] Galsworthy used cubic in 1924 for a cubist painting, a rare sense.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1450 – of a number, cubed; also a noun, a cubic number.^[2]
• 1551 – having the form of a cube; involving the third power.^[3][4]
• 1660 – three-dimensional; used with units of volume.^[3]
• 1783 – in mineralogy, crystallizing in cubes.^[3]
• 1799 – noun, a cubic equation.^[3][7]
• 1878 – in crystallography, isometric.^[3]
• 1882 – noun, a cubic curve.^[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Having the shape of a cube; cubical.
2. Having three dimensions; used of a unit of volume equal to a cube whose edge is a given length: a cubic metre of sand.
3. (mathematics) Of the third power, order or degree: a cubic equation.
4. (crystallography) Having three equal axes at right angles to one another; isometric.

Noun

1. (mathematics) A cubic expression, equation, curve or polynomial.

Word family

• cubicly
• cusec
• subcubic
• cubic equation
• cubic zirconia

Related words

• cube
• cubical
• cubism

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House