cube

See also: Appendix:Variations of "cube"

English

A cube

Etymology 1

From Old French cube, from Latin cubus, from Ancient Greek κύβος (kúbos).

Displaced Old English tæfel ("cube, die, game with dice or tables").

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kyo͞ob, IPA(key): /kjuːb/
  • (US) enPR: kyo͞ob, IPA(key): /kjub/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -uːb

Noun

cube (plural cubes)

  1. (geometry) A regular polyhedron having six identical square faces.
    When the math teacher is teaching the class about cubes, he asks them to imagine a cardboard box whose width, length, and height are all the same.
  2. Any object more or less in the form of a cube.
    Hyponyms: sugar cube, stock cube
    A: One cube or two? B: Oh, no sugar for me, thanks.
  4. (mathematics) The third power of a number, value, term or expression.
    Antonym: cube root
    The cube of 2 is 8.
    The cube of 0.5 is 0.125.
  5. (computing) A data structure consisting of a three-dimensional array; a data cube.
  6. A Rubik's cube style puzzle, not necessarily in the shape of a cube.
  8. (informal, automotive) Clipping of cubic inch(es).
    As if the 383 weren't already a roaring beast, in 1972 they bored it out some more, bringing it up to 400 cubes. This 400-cube monster could launch a land yacht like the Plymouth Fury from zero to sixty in under ten seconds.
  10. (1950s slang, dated) An extremely socially conventional or conservative person, more so than even a square.
Synonyms
Hypernyms
Coordinate terms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

cube (third-person singular simple present cubes, present participle cubing, simple past and past participle cubed)

  1. (transitive, arithmetic) To raise to the third power; to determine the result of multiplying by itself twice.
    Three cubed can be written as 33, and equals twenty-seven.
    • 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC:
      From this severe trial Mr. Nackybal emerged with distinction, having in his cubing made only twenty-five slight mistakes out of the forty-six cubes demanded, and in his rooting, out of the fifty-three extractions propounded, committed a mere matter of four trifling errors!
  2. (transitive) To form into the shape of a cube.
  3. (transitive) To cut into cubes.
    Synonym: dice
    Cube the ham right after adding the curry to the rice.
  5. (intransitive) To use a Rubik's cube.
    He likes to cube now and then.
    • 2026 September 26, Yu-chen Li, Amy Hawkins, quoting Lin Yangxi, “Specialist coaches and hours of practice a day: the making of China’s six-year-old Rubik’s Cube prodigy”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 October 2026:
      “She has gained a lot of love and attention through cubing.”
Translations

Adjective

cube (not comparable)

  1. (postpositive) Used in the names of units of area formed by multiplying a unit of length by itself twice.
    • 1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 181:
      Beautiful peepshows with hand-coloured engravings by Martin Englebrecht, 1684-1756, were produced in Augsburg about 1740. The box, about six inches cube, contained slots to take four cut-out scenes, the front of the box had another cut-out, and the back was painted with a landscape, making six 'curtains' in all.

Derived terms

See also

Etymology 2

Clipped form of cubicle (with intentional reference to their common shape per cube, etymology 1), which from Latin cubiculum (“a small bedchamber or lounge”), from cubare (“to lie down”).

Noun

cube (plural cubes)

  1. A cubicle, especially one of those found in offices.
    My co-worker annoys me by throwing things over the walls of my cube.
Translations

Anagrams

Albanian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈt͡subɛ/

Etymology 1

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Adjective

cube

  1. feminine singular of cub (“bobtailed”)

Noun

cube

  1. indefinite dative/ablative singular of cubë

Etymology 2

From Tosk variant cupe, from cup (“odd”). Similar formation with teke, meaning single-barrel gun, and çifte.[1]

Alternative forms

Noun

cube f (plural cube, definite cubja, definite plural cubet)

  1. pocket pistol, small gun[2]
    Synonyms: topanxhë, dungë, teke
Declension
Declension of cube
singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative cube cubja cube cubet
accusative cuben
dative cubeje cubes cubeve cubeve
ablative cubesh

References

  1. ^ Çabej, E. (1987), “cube”, in Studime etimologjike në fushë të shqipes (in Albanian), volumes III: C–D, Tirana: Akademia e Shkencave e Republikës Popullore të Shqipërisë, Instituti i Gjuhësisë dhe i Letërsisë, page 59
  2. ^ Mann, S. E. (1948), “cube”, in An Historical Albanian–English Dictionary, London: Longmans, Green & Co., page 51

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cubus, from Ancient Greek κύβος (kúbos).

Pronunciation

Noun

cube m (plural cubes)

  1. cube (all senses)
  2. third-grader

Descendants

  • → Romanian: cub
  • → Turkish: küp

Adjective

cube (plural cubes)

  1. cubic

Derived terms

Verb

cube

  1. inflection of cuber:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

Italian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈku.be/
  • Rhymes: -ube
  • Hyphenation: cù‧be

Adjective

cube f

  1. feminine plural of cubo

Latin

Noun

cube

  1. vocative singular of cubus

Portuguese

Verb

cube

  1. inflection of cubar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative
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