Etymologically
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rebus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 12 October 2026 at 22:33. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈɹiːbəs/; /ˈɹibəs/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French rébus and directly borrowed from Latin rēbus (“by things”),[2][3] the ablative plural of rēs (“thing, object”).[4][2][5][6][7] According to French sources it comes from the phrase dē rēbus quae geruntur (“of the things that are going on”), used of satirical pieces with picture riddles that the clerks of Picardy wrote at carnival time.[2][5][8] The RHWU instead gives the phrase nōn verbīs sed rēbus (“not by words but by things”).[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

An enigmatic representation of a name, word or phrase by pictures or arrangements of letters that suggest its syllables (1605 in the OED, Barnhart and Merriam-Webster; about 1600 in Etymonline).[10][2][6][5]

Semantic evolution

The French word is recorded in 1512.[8] Skeat gives the example of the name Bolton represented by a picture of a bolt and a tun.[11] In heraldry a rebus is a device that puns on its bearer's name,[3][12] and the verb, to mark with a rebus, dates from 1655.[10] The word later also covered puzzles that play on each syllable of a word without pictures.[10]

Timeline

  • 1512 – French rébus.[8]
  • 1605 – a picture puzzle.[10][2][6]
  • 1655 – verb, to mark with a rebus.[10]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A representation of words or syllables by pictures or symbols whose names sound like them, often as a puzzle, as when hear is shown by an H followed by a picture of an ear.
  2. (heraldry) An emblem or device that represents its bearer's name by a pun.

Verb

  1. To mark with or represent by a rebus.

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  3. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  9. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  10. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  12. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster