# chubby

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ˈt͡ʃʌbi/ · frequency rank #16,435

## Definitions
1. Of a person: slightly overweight, somewhat fat, and hence plump, rounded, and soft.
2. Of a body part: containing a moderate amount of fat.

## Etymology
Recorded since 1611, from chub (“short, thick fish species used as bait"; used metaphorically since 1558 for "lazy person”), an assibilated form of cub (“a lump, heap, mass”) and cob, from Middle English *cubbe (found only in derivative cubbel (“a block to which an animal is tethered”)), from Old Norse kubbr, kumbr (“block, stump, log”) and/or Old Norse kumben (“stumpy”), equivalent to chub + -y. Cognate with dialectal Swedish kubbug (“fat, plump, chubby”). More at chub.

## Easily confused with
- **cubby** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/chubby-vs-cubby)
- **chunky** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/chubby-vs-chunky)
- **Chucky** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/chubby-vs-chucky)
- **chub** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/chub-vs-chubby)
- **chubb** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/chubb-vs-chubby)

## Common misspellings (8)
`cchubby`, `chbuby`, `chhubby`, `chubbyy`, `chuby`, `chubyb`, `cuhbby`, `hcubby`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/chubby