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PlainSpell

cub

/kʌb/noun, verb

cub is spelled C-U-B: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 3.1 times per million words in written English, the 15,146th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, cub means “The young of certain animals, chiefly large carnivorous mammals, including the bear, wolf, fox, lion and tiger” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of cub is cubs.

How many letters and syllables are in cub?

Letters3: C-U-B
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing3.1 times per million words; the 15,146th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; 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 cub?

Cub appears 3.1 times per million words in written English, the 15,146th 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 cub?

  • US /kʌb/
  • /kʊb/

Cub has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-cub.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with cub?

6 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as cub from its last stressed vowel (/ʌb/):

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 cub

  • cubs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • cubbing participle, present
  • cubbed participle, past

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

What does cub mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    The young of certain animals, chiefly large carnivorous mammals, including the bear, wolf, fox, lion and tiger.

  2. 2

    derogatoryA child, especially an awkward, rude, ill-mannered boy.

  3. 3

    slangA young man who seeks relationships with older women, or "cougars".

  4. 4

    obsoleteA stall for cattle.

  5. 5

    Synonym of cub reporter.

  6. 6

    slangA furry character that is a child (i.e. under the age of adulthood).

  7. 7

    slangClipping of cub porn or cub art.

    Ew, I didn't know he also drew cub...

  8. 8

    A boy or young man.

  9. 9

    Acronym of cashed-up bogan.

verb

  1. 1

    To give birth to cubs.

  2. 2

    To hunt fox cubs.

  3. 3

    obsoleteTo shut up or confine.

noun

as Cub
  1. 1

    A member of the Cub Scouts.

  2. 2

    A player on the team the "Chicago Cubs".

    Jones became a Cub as the result of a pre-season trade.

noun

as CUB
  1. 1

    Initialism of cashed-up bogan.

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

Cub in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchrenardeau (young fox), petit, cheau, see ourson, louveteau (the young of certain animals)
GermanFuchswelpe, Fuchsjunges, Fuchsbaby (young fox), Junges, Welpe, Dachsjunges (badger) (the young of certain animals)
Portuguesefilhote, cachorro, cria (the young of certain animals)
Spanishcachorro, leoncillo, lobezno, lobato, osezno (the young of certain animals)

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 cub come from?

From earlier cubbe. Origin unknown. According to Pokorny, from Proto-Germanic *kubb-, from Proto-Indo-European *gup- (“round object, knoll”), from *gew- (“to bend, curve, convex, arch, vault”). Related terms include cup (cf. cupboard), coffin, cove, etc, essentially “chamber”, thus cub maybe initially derived from the sense “den”, or maybe “womb”. A probable cognate is also found in North Germanic: dialectal Swedish kubbe, kybbe, köbbe, kibb, Danish kippe (“calf”). Also compare Icelandic and Old Norse kobbi (“seal”), Old Irish cuib (“whelp”). Compare also English cob.

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

What to look up after cub