cube
/kjub/noun, verb, adjective
cube is spelled C-U-B-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 6.6 times per million words in written English, the 9,313th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, cube means “A regular polyhedron having six identical square faces” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of cube is cubes.
How many letters and syllables are in cube?
| Letters | 4: C-U-B-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 6.6 times per million words; the 9,313th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 cube?
Cube appears 6.6 times per million words in written English, the 9,313th 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 cube?
- UK /kjuːb/
- US /kjub/
Cube 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-cube.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with cube?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as cube from its last stressed vowel (/ub/):
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 cube
- cubes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- cubing participle, present
- cubed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does cube mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A regular polyhedron having six identical square faces.
When the math teacher is teaching the class about cubes, he asks them to imagine a cardboard box whose width, length, and height are all the same.
- 2
Any object more or less in the form of a cube.
A: One cube or two? B: Oh, no sugar for me, thanks.
- 3
The third power of a number, value, term or expression.
The cube of 2 is 8.
- 4
A data structure consisting of a three-dimensional array; a data cube.
- 5
A Rubik's cube style puzzle, not necessarily in the shape of a cube.
- 6
informalClipping of cubic inch(es).
As if the 383 weren't already a roaring beast, in 1972 they bored it out some more, bringing it up to 400 cubes. This 400-cube monster could launch a land yacht like the Plymouth Fury from zero to sixty in under ten seconds.
- 7
datedAn extremely socially conventional or conservative person, more so than even a square.
- 8
A cubicle, especially one of those found in offices.
My co-worker annoys me by throwing things over the walls of my cube.
verb
- 1
To raise to the third power; to determine the result of multiplying by itself twice.
Three cubed can be written as 3³, and equals twenty-seven.
- 2
To form into the shape of a cube.
- 3
To cut into cubes.
Cube the ham right after adding the curry to the rice.
- 4
To use a Rubik's cube.
He likes to cube now and then.
adjective
- 1
Used in the names of units of area formed by multiplying a unit of length by itself twice.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Cube in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | cube |
| German | Kubus, Würfel , würfeln |
| Portuguese | cubo , cubar, elevar ao cubo, elevar à terceira potência , dar forma de cubo a |
| Spanish | cubo , elevar al cub, elevar a la tercera potencia , terrón, cubito, pastilla |
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 cube come from?
From Old French cube, from Latin cubus, from Ancient Greek κύβος (kúbos). Displaced Old English tæfel ("cube, die, game with dice or tables").
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).