Skip to main content
PlainSpell

rubber

/ˈɹʌbɚ/noun, adjective, verb

rubber is spelled R-U-B-B-E-R: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 17 times per million words in written English, the 4,838th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, rubber means “Pliable material derived from the sap of the rubber tree; a hydrocarbon biopolymer of isoprene” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of rubber is rubbers.

How many letters and syllables are in rubber?

Letters6: R-U-B-B-E-R
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing17 times per million words; the 4,838th 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 rubber?

Rubber appears 17 times per million words in written English, the 4,838th 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 rubber?

  • UK /ˈɹʌbə/
  • US /ˈɹʌbɚ/
  • Australia /ˈɹɐbə/

Rubber has 2 syllables (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-rubber.ogg, En-au-rubber.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with rubber?

4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as rubber from its last stressed vowel (/ʌbəɹ/):

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 rubber

  • rubbers plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • rubbering participle, present
  • rubbered participle, past

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

What does rubber mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    Pliable material derived from the sap of the rubber tree; a hydrocarbon biopolymer of isoprene.

  2. 2

    Natural rubber or any of various synthetic materials with similar properties as natural rubber.

  3. 3

    AustraliaIndiaUKAn eraser.

  4. 4

    CanadaUSslangA condom, especially an external condom.

  5. 5

    Someone or something which rubs.

  6. 6

    One who rubs down horses.

  7. 7

    One who practises massage.

  8. 8

    A coarse towel for rubbing the body.

  9. 9

    The entire series, of an odd number of games or matches in which ties are impossible (especially a series of three games in bridge or whist).

    […] an old lady's innocent rubber.

  10. 10

    An individual match within the series (especially in racquet sports).

    Ladies matches shall consist of 6 rubbers. Each rubber shall consist of best of 3 games to 21 points.

  11. 11

    CanadaUSA rubber match; a game or match played to break a tie.

  12. 12

    The game of rubber bridge.

adjective

  1. 1

    slangNot covered by funds on account.

verb

  1. 1

    To eavesdrop on a telephone call

    "There's a lot of nostalgia about the phone and how it was the way to get the local news," said Jane Beck of the Vermont Folklife Center in Middlebury. One way was "rubbering," or listening in on a neighbor's conversations ...

  2. 2

    slangTo rubberneck; to observe with unseemly curiosity.

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

Rubber in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchcaoutchouc, gomme (pliable material derived from the sap of the…), capote, condom (condom), chèque en bois (not covered by funds)
GermanGummi, Kautschuk (pliable material derived from the sap of the…), Kondom (condom)
Portugueseborracha (pliable material derived from the sap of the…), camisinha, preservativo (condom)
Spanishcaucho, goma, hule (pliable material derived from the sap of the…), cheque sin fondos (not covered by funds)

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 rubber come from?

From rub + -er. The sense of the substance comes from its ability to function as an eraser, displacing earlier caoutchouc. The senses not pertaining to rubbing or erasing are secondarily derived from the name of the substance.

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

What to look up after rubber