blubber
/ˈblʌbə/
"blubber" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“blubber” is uncommon English (frequency #50,986 among 4,121 “B” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #50,986
- frequency rank, English
- 4,121
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Often followed by out: to cry out (words) while sobbing.
Corpus desk
Index EN-blubber · blubber · English
blubber · rank #50,986 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #50,986
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,121
- PHOTO-FINISH Blanchett
Nearest frequency peer: Blanchett (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “blubber”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- bish
bish
49,019 corpus weight
- Blanchett
Blanchett
49,016 corpus weight
- blubber
blubber
49,015 corpus weight
- bluebell
bluebell
49,014 corpus weight
- Blume
Blume
49,013 corpus weight
- blunts
blunts
49,012 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “blubber” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | blubber |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈblʌbə/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #50,986 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “blubber” in English
Rare enough to double-check
blubber is uncommon English at frequency #50,986 among 4,121 “B” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /ˈblʌbə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for blubber in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: The verb is derived from Late Middle English bloberen, bluberen (“to bubble, seethe”); and the noun from Late Middle English blober, bluber (“bubble; bubbling water; foaming waves; fish or whale oil; entrails, intestines; (medicine) pustule”), both probably… The correct English form is blubber, spelled B-L-U-B-B-E-R.
Definition
- 1Often followed by out: to cry out (words) while sobbing.
- 2To wet (one's eyes or face) by crying; to beweep; also, to cause (one's face) to disfigure or swell through crying.
- 3Often followed by forth: to let (one's tears) flow freely.
- 4To cry or weep freely and noisily; to sob.
- 5To bubble or bubble up; also, to make a bubbling sound like water boiling.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how blubber appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Here Bliſil ſighed bitterly; upon vvhich VVeſtern, vvhoſe Eyes vvere full of Tears at the praiſe of Sophia, blubbered out, 'Don't be Chicken-hearted, for ſhat ha her, d—n me, ſhat ha her, if ſhe vvas tvventy Times as good.'
Her ſvvollen eyes vvere much diſfigured, / And her faire face vvith teares vvas fovvly blubbered.
Etymology
The verb is derived from Late Middle English bloberen, bluberen (“to bubble, seethe”); and the noun from Late Middle English blober, bluber (“bubble; bubbling water; foaming waves; fish or whale oil; entrails, intestines; (medicine) pustule”), both probably onomatopoeic, representing the movement or sound of a bubbling liquid, or the movement of lips forming bubbles (compare bleb and blob, thought to be similarly imitative). As both the verb and noun are attested in the 14th century, it is difficult to tell which one developed first; the Oxford English Dictionary suggests that the noun may be derived from the verb. Verb etymology 1 sense 1.2 (“to cause (one’s face) to disfigure or swell through crying”) is influenced by blubber (adjective).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "blubber", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).