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PlainSpell

rub

/ɹʌb/noun, verb

rub is spelled R-U-B: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 9.3 times per million words in written English, the 7,445th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, rub means “An act of rubbing” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of rub is rubs.

How many letters and syllables are in rub?

Letters3: R-U-B
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing9.3 times per million words; the 7,445th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

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 rub?

Rub appears 9.3 times per million words in written English, the 7,445th 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 rub?

  • US /ɹʌb/
  • /ɹʊb/

Rub 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-rub.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with rub?

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

Spelled with the same letters in another order: bur, bru.

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 rub

  • rubs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • rubbing participle, present
  • rubbed participle, past

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

What does rub mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    An act of rubbing.

    Give that lamp a good rub and see if any genies come out.

  2. 2

    A difficulty or problem.

  3. 3

    archaicA quip or sarcastic remark.

  4. 4

    In the game of crown green bowls, any obstacle by which a bowl is diverted from its normal course.

  5. 5

    Any substance designed to be applied by rubbing.

    a heat rub intended for muscular strains

  6. 6

    A mixture of spices applied to meat before it is barbecued.

  7. 7

    UKslangA loan.

verb

  1. 1

    To move (one object) while maintaining contact with another object over some area, with pressure and friction.

    I rubbed the cloth over the glass.

  2. 2

    To be rubbed against something.

    My shoes are beginning to rub.

  3. 3

    To spread a substance thinly over; to smear.

    meat rubbed with spices before barbecuing

  4. 4

    datedTo move or pass with difficulty.

    to rub through woods, as huntsmen

  5. 5

    To scour; to burnish; to polish; to brighten; to cleanse; often with up or over.

    to rub up silver

  6. 6

    To hinder; to cross; to thwart.

  7. 7

    To touch the jack with the bowl.

noun

as RUB
  1. 1

    Any of a group of proteins similar to ubiquitin

  2. 2

    Initialism of rich urban biker.

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

Rub in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchfriction (act of rubbing), hic (difficulty or problem), frotter (to move one object while maintaining contact…), polir (to scour; to burnish; to polish; to brighten…)
Portuguesefricção (act of rubbing), esfregar (to move one object while maintaining contact…), raspado (to be rubbed against something)
Spanishfrotación, frotamiento, frote (act of rubbing), frotar, fregar, estregar (to move one object while maintaining contact…)
Germanreiben (to move one object while maintaining contact…), sich abreiben, sich abscheuern, sich ablaufen (to be rubbed against something), abreiben (to rub something against (a second thing))

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 rub come from?

Inherited from Middle English rubben, of unknown origin; possibly ultimately from Proto-Germanic *rubbōną, related to *reufaną (“to tear”).

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

What to look up after rub