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PlainSpell

blubber

blub·ber/ˈblʌbəɹ/verb, noun

blubber is spelled B-L-U-B-B-E-R: 7 letters and 2 syllables (blub·ber). It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 51,129th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, blubber means “Often followed by out: to cry out (words) while sobbing” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in blubber?

Letters7: B-L-U-B-B-E-R
Syllables2: blub·ber
In writingabout once in every 3 million words; the 51,129th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is blubber?

Blubber appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 51,129th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce blubber?

  • UK /ˈblʌbə/
  • US /ˈblʌbəɹ/
  • /ˈblʊbəɹ/

Blubber has 2 syllables, split blub·ber in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-blubber.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-blubber.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with blubber?

4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as blubber from its last stressed vowel (/ʌbəɹ/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: bubbler.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of blubber

  • blubbers present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • blubbering participle, present
  • blubbered participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does blubber mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    Often followed by out: to cry out (words) while sobbing.

  2. 2

    archaicTo wet (one's eyes or face) by crying; to beweep; also, to cause (one's face) to disfigure or swell through crying.

  3. 3

    obsoleteOften followed by forth: to let (one's tears) flow freely.

  4. 4

    derogatoryTo cry or weep freely and noisily; to sob.

  5. 5

    obsoleteTo bubble or bubble up; also, to make a bubbling sound like water boiling.

noun

  1. 1

    A fatty layer of adipose tissue found immediately beneath the epidermis of whales and other cetaceans (infraorder Cetacea).

  2. 2

    A fatty layer of adipose tissue found in other animals which keeps them warm, especially Arctic animals such as sea lions and Antarctic animals such as penguins.

  3. 3

    derogatoryinformaloffensiveA person's fat tissue, usually when regarded as excessive and unsightly.

  4. 4

    archaicA jellyfish (subphylum Medusozoa).

  5. 5

    derogatoryAn act of crying or weeping freely and noisily.

  6. 6

    obsoleteA bubble.

  7. 7

    One who blubs (“cries or weeps freely and noisily”); a blubberer.

adjective

  1. 1

    archaicEspecially of lips: protruding, swollen.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Blubber in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchchialer, pleurer comme un veau (to cry or weep freely and noisily – see also sob), lard (fatty layer of adipose tissue found immediately…)
Portuguesechoramingar (to cry or weep freely and noisily – see also sob), panículo adiposo (fatty layer of adipose tissue found immediately…), gordura (fatty layer of adipose tissue found in other…), banha (person’s fat tissue, usually when regarded as…)
GermanBlubber, Speck, Walspeck (fatty layer of adipose tissue found immediately…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does blubber come from?

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).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after blubber