Etymologically
Log in

cupboard

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 14:10. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈkʌb.əd/[1]
  • US: /ˈkʌb.ɚd/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English cup + board,[2][3][4][5][6] first as inherited from Middle English cuppebord, also copberd and cobbord,[7][8] from cuppe and bord (“board, table”).[8][7] The OED allows that the first element may also be cop, noting that spellings in cop- are frequent in northern Middle English sources.[2] By the 16th century the second element had become obscured in pronunciation and the p had merged with the following b, giving the present pronunciation and many spellings of the cubbert type; the spelling cupboard has prevailed since the 18th century.[2] Johnson took the second element as a Saxon word for a case or receptacle.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A board or table on which cups and other vessels were set out, a sideboard: the MED's first record is a will of 1375 mentioning a cupboard with mirrors in a hall.[7] The OED's first quotation is from about 1380.[2]

Semantic evolution

Ayto and the Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins explain that a cupboard was at first literally a board for displaying cups and plate, what is now called a sideboard, and that the modern sense, a recess or cabinet with doors and shelves, emerged in the 16th century.[10][11] The OED dates that sense to 1530, in Palsgrave,[2][8] and the old sense, which lasted until 1708, survives only in court cupboard.[2][4] From before 1529 to 1699 the word could also mean the set of vessels displayed on a sideboard.[2] Ayto notes that the older word for the modern piece of furniture was press, that cabinet is roughly as old as cupboard in this sense, and that closet took on the meaning in the 17th century.[10] By about 1665 cupboard could stand for food itself, as in to cry cupboard, to feel hungry.[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as a case with shelves for food or earthenware.[9] In 19th-century American slang the word meant the stomach,[12] and in the northern United States it is still used for a wardrobe or clothes closet.[13] In Lancashire a cupboard-bedstead was a folding bed, and in East Anglia a cupboard-head was a stupid person.[14]

Timeline

  • 1375 – cuppebord, a sideboard, in a will.[7]
  • c. 1380 – a board or table for displaying cups and plate (obsolete after 1708).[2]
  • before 1529 – a set of vessels displayed on a sideboard (obsolete after 1699).[2]
  • 1530 – a closet or cabinet with shelves.[2][8]
  • 1565 – verb, to shut up in a cupboard.[2]
  • c. 1665 – food, as in to cry cupboard, to feel hungry.[2]
  • 1842 – American slang, the stomach.[12]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A piece of furniture or a recess in a wall, with a door and usually shelves, for storing dishes, food or other things: The spare blankets are in the hall cupboard.[15][8][2]
  2. (US regional) A wardrobe or clothes closet.[13]
  3. (obsolete, 1380–1708) A sideboard or table for displaying cups and plate.[2][8][4]
  4. (obsolete, 1529–1699) A set of vessels displayed on a sideboard.[2][8][4]

Verb

  1. To put away or keep in a cupboard.[8][2]

Word family

  • cupboard love

Usage notes

Cupboard love is affection shown only to gain some benefit, the image being of love given in return for food from the cupboard.[16] The OED also records the phrase skeleton in the cupboard.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ 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)
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  10. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  11. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  13. ^ a b Cassidy, Frederic G. & Joan Houston Hall (eds.) (1985–2002), Dictionary of American Regional English, vols I–IV, Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
  14. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  15. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  16. ^ Tréguer, Pascal, Word Histories, wordhistories.net, p. "‘cupboard love’: meaning and origin", 12 November 2022