Etymologically
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cubic

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 18:41. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈkjuː.bɪk/[1]
  • US: /ˈkju.bɪk/[1]

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

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