# hub

> English word · Noun · IPA /hʌb/ · frequency rank #6,254

## Definitions
1. The central part, usually cylindrical, of a wheel; the nave.
2. A point where many routes meet and traffic is distributed, dispensed, or diverted.
3. A central facility providing a range of related services, such as a medical hub or an educational hub.
4. A computer networking device connecting several Ethernet ports. See switch.
5. A stake with a nail in it, used to mark a temporary point.
6. A male weasel; a buck; a dog; a jack.
7. A rough protuberance or projecting obstruction.
8. An area in a video game from which individual levels are accessed.
9. A goal or mark at which quoits, etc., are thrown.
10. A hardened, engraved steel punch for impressing a device upon a die, used in coining, etc.
11. A screw hob.
12. A block for scotching a wheel.

## Etymology
From earlier hubbe, which has the same immediate origin as hob. Hub was originally a dialectal word; its ultimate origin is unknown. Compare German Hubbel (“bump on a surface”), from Proto-West Germanic *hubil (“bump, hill”) (which contains a diminutive suffix *-il); compare English hive, or perhaps ultimately from the same root as hip or hop.

## Easily confused with
- **hv** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hub-vs-hv)
- **huh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hub-vs-huh)
- **hug** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hub-vs-hug)
- **hut** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hub-vs-hut)
- **hum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hub-vs-hum)
- **hue** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hub-vs-hue)
- **hun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hub-vs-hun)
- **HUD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hub-vs-hud)
- **hwy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hub-vs-hwy)
- **hye** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hub-vs-hye)
- **hui** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hub-vs-hui)
- **Hur** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hub-vs-hur)
- **Hus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hub-vs-hus)
- **Huw** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hub-vs-huw)
- **huge** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hub-vs-huge)
- **hurt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hub-vs-hurt)
- **hunt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hub-vs-hunt)
- **hung** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hub-vs-hung)
- **hull** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hub-vs-hull)
- **Hugh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hub-vs-hugh)

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