cube English · revision 39426

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1551|origins=grc κύβος}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /kjuːb/, /kjub/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|frm|cube]] or directly [[bor|la|cubus]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 2026)^(ODE 2010) from [[grc|κύβος|tr=kúbos|t=a cube; a die for playing]].^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) The Greek word also meant a block, a cake, a vertebra and the hollow before the hip in cattle,^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) and Barnhart and Merriam-Webster connect it with [[hip]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) Its origin is uncertain: Etymonline cites Beekes's remark that words for dice are often loans,^(Etymonline) while Klein thought it probably Semitic, comparing [[ar|كَعْب|tr=kaʿb|t=cube]].^(Klein 1966)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A regular solid with six equal square faces: 1551 according to Barnhart and Merriam-Webster, 1556 in Recorde's ''Castle of Knowledge'' according to the OED.^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026) The word was used in its Latin form from the late 14th century.^(Etymonline)^(Dictionary.com 2016)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The arithmetical sense, the third power of a number, came almost at once (Recorde, 1557).^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988) Etymonline notes that it was already present in Greek, where three dice were thrown and the best throw was three sixes.^(Etymonline) From the 1620s the word was used of any cube-shaped block, such as sugar or tea.^(OED 2026) The verb, to raise to the third power, is recorded from 1588;^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988) to cut food into cubes is a 20th-century use (1947).^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) Because ''square'' was slang for a conventional person, ''cube'' was coined in 1959 for someone even more so.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(GDoS) An office ''cube'' (1937) is a shortening of [[cubicle]].^(OED 2026)^(AHD 2024)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * late 14th century – used in the Latin form ''cubus''.^(Etymonline)^(Dictionary.com 2016)

+ * 1551 – a solid with six square faces.^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1557 – the third power of a quantity.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1588 – verb: to raise to the third power.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1626 – a cube-shaped block of something.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1937 – a cubicle.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1947 – verb: to cut into cubes.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1959 – slang: an extremely conventional person.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A solid with six equal square faces meeting at [[right angle|alt=right angles]].^(Collins 2023)^(AHD 2024)

+ # A block of something in roughly that shape: ''a cube of cheese''.^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(mathematics)'' The third [[power]] of a number: ''the cube of 3 is 27''.^(Collins 2023)^(AHD 2024)

+ # ''(informal)'' A [[cubicle]] in an open-plan office.^(AHD 2024)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To raise a number to the third power.^(Collins 2023)^(AHD 2024)

+ # To cut food into small cubes; to [[dice]].^(Collins 2023)^(SOED 2002)

+ # To measure the cubic content of something.^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[cuber]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[cubic]]

+ * [[cubical]]

+ * [[cuboid]]

+ * [[cubism]]

+ * [[cubicle]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The plant name ''cube'' or ''cubé'', a South American shrub whose roots yield the insecticide [[rotenone]], is unrelated: it is from American Spanish ''cubé'' (1924).^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}