boob tube
"boob-tube" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“boob tube” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A television.
Corpus desk
Index EN-boob-tube · boob tube · English
boob tube · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "B" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | boob tube |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “boob tube” in English
Rare enough to double-check
boob tube is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
boob tube doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: * (television): An allusion to the idiocy of television programming and the supposed audience for such (boobs) and that the televisions of that era used cathode ray tube (CRT) vacuum tube displays. First use appears c. 1959, in the The Herald Journal. * (cl… The correct English form is boob tube, spelled B-O-O-B- -T-U-B-E.
Definition
- 1A television.
- 2A type of woman's upper body garment consisting of a taut band of cloth around the breasts and back.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how boob tube appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Pictured on boob-tubes innumerable, babbled on travelling transistors Australia-wide.
A midget prostitute in heels and a boob tube was walking on the bar.
Etymology
* (television): An allusion to the idiocy of television programming and the supposed audience for such (boobs) and that the televisions of that era used cathode ray tube (CRT) vacuum tube displays. First use appears c. 1959, in the The Herald Journal. * (clothing): Due to the clothing being a tube-like garment that covers the breasts (boobs) of a woman. First use appears c. 1977, in the Daily Mail.
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.