stub

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English stubbe,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English stybb, also stubb and stebb, a stump of a tree.^[5][3][6][7] The form stubb goes back to Proto-Germanic *stubbaz,^[6][8][9] while stybb is from a form in -j- that Etymonline and Barnhart give as *stubjaz;^[3][4] the two Old English forms coalesced.^[10][7][6] It is cognate with Middle Low German stubbe and Middle Dutch stubbe, a stump, and with Old Norse stubbi and stubbr.^{[4][10][6][11]} To the same root belong stúfr (“stump”) and stûve (“stump, fag-end”),^[10][6][4] and, outside the Germanic languages, Ancient Greek στύπος (stúpos, “stump, stem”) and Latvian stups (“fag-end”),^[10][6][12] while Orel compares Lithuanian stùburas (“backbone”).^[8] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster relate the Greek word to τύπτειν (túptein, “to strike, beat”), the source of type.^[4][13] Etymonline traces the family to Proto-Indo-European *(s)teu- (“to push, stick, knock, beat”),^[3] Barnhart to *steubh- (“to strike”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A stump of a tree: in Old English charter bounds, the earliest in a charter of King Edgar,^[10][5] which Barnhart dates 967.^[4] In Middle English the first record, about 1250 in The Owl and the Nightingale, is for stubble or the stalks of cut grain;^[10][4] the sense "stump of a tree" is recorded again in 1324.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From the 14th century the word was extended to short, thick, projecting things:^[3] a short piece of a broken branch (in Chaucer's Knight's Tale, about 1385),^[10][14] and a short thick nail or a worn horseshoe nail (1394).^[10][7] The sense "the remaining piece of something used up or worn down", as of a pencil or later a cigarette, is recorded from about 1530,^[4][3] and Barnhart derives it from the sense of what remains when something is broken.^[4] American English added the counterfoil of a cheque by 1876,^[3] later of a ticket or receipt.^[15] Milton (1644) used stub for a blockhead, like stock.^[10] The verb first meant to dig up by the roots, about 1450 in Jacob's Well,^[10][4][3] and to clear land of stumps (1464);^[10] striking one's toe against something is first recorded in Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms (1848),^[10][4][3] and stubbing out a cigarette in the early 20th century,^[7] from 1927 in Etymonline.^[3] In Somerset and Devon a stub was also a large sum of money or a good stock,^[16] and in American slang from 1823 a short person.^[17] Word Origins suggests that stubborn may be based on stub, though this is by no means certain.^[18]

Timeline

• 967 – Old English stybb, a tree stump, in a charter.^[4][10]
• c. 1250 – stubble, in The Owl and the Nightingale.^[10][4]
• c. 1385 – a short piece of a broken branch, in Chaucer.^[10]
• 1394 – a short thick nail; a worn horseshoe nail.^[10]
• c. 1450 – verb, to dig up by the roots.^[10][4]
• 1464 – verb, to clear land of stumps.^[10]
• c. 1530 – the remnant of something worn down or used up, as of a pencil.^[4][3]
• 1711 – adjective, of a person, squat.^[10]
• 1848 – to strike one's toe against something, American.^[10][4][3]
• 1876 – the counterfoil of a cheque, American.^[3]
• 1927 – to stub out a cigarette.^[3][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A short piece left after the rest has been used up, cut off or worn down: a pencil stub or a cigarette stub.^[15][7]
2. The part of a ticket, cheque or receipt that is kept as a record; a counterfoil.^[15][3]
3. The stump of a tree or plant.^[15][13][10]
4. A short projection or blunt end.^[15][7]
5. A short thick nail, especially a worn horseshoe nail.^[7][10][13]

Verb

1. To strike one's toe or foot against something: She stubbed her toe on the step.^[15][7][10]
2. To put out a cigarette or cigar by pressing the lit end against something, usually with out.^[7][3]
3. To dig up by the roots; to grub up.^[13][7][10]
4. To clear land of stumps and roots.^[13][7][10]
5. (archaic) To wear down to a stub.^[13][7]

Word family

• stubber
• stubby
• stub nail

Related words

• stump
• stob
• type
• stubble

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
6. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
9. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
12. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
14. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
15. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ 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)
17. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
18. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press