cubit
/ˈkjuː.bɪt/
"cubit" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cubit” is uncommon English (frequency #87,175 among 43,570 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #87,175
- frequency rank, English
- 43,570
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger used as an informal unit of length.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cubit |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkjuː.bɪt/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #87,175 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cubit” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
cubit is uncommon English at frequency #87,175 among 43,570 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈkjuː.bɪt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
cubit has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English cubite, from Latin cubitum (“elbow, cubit”). Doublet of cubitus, covado, and codo. The correct English form is cubit, spelled C-U-B-I-T.
Definition
- 1The distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger used as an informal unit of length.
- 2Any of various units of length approximating this distance, usually around 35–60 cm.
- 3Synonym of ulna, the bone of the human forearm.
Etymology
From Middle English cubite, from Latin cubitum (“elbow, cubit”). Doublet of cubitus, covado, and codo.
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); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “cubit”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-U-B-I-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkjuː.bɪt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.