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PlainSpell

rubbish

rub·bish/ˈɹʌbɪʃ/noun, adjective, interjection, verb

rubbish is spelled R-U-B-B-I-S-H: 7 letters and 2 syllables (rub·bish). It appears 7.4 times per million words in written English, the 8,669th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, rubbish means “Refuse, waste, garbage, junk, trash” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of rubbish is rubbishes.

How many letters and syllables are in rubbish?

Letters7: R-U-B-B-I-S-H
Syllables2: rub·bish
In writing7.4 times per million words; the 8,669th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is rubbish?

Rubbish appears 7.4 times per million words in written English, the 8,669th 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 rubbish?

  • /ˈɹʌbɪʃ/

Rubbish has 2 syllables, split rub·bish in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-rubbish.ogg, En-au-rubbish.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of rubbish

  • rubbishes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • rubbage
  • more rubbish comparative
  • rubbisher comparative
  • most rubbish superlative
  • rubbishest superlative
  • rubbishing participle, present
  • rubbished participle, past

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

What does rubbish mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    CommonwealthRefuse, waste, garbage, junk, trash.

    The rubbish is collected every Thursday in Gloucester, but on Wednesdays in Cheltenham.

  2. 2

    CommonwealthAn item, or items, of low quality.

    Much of what they sell is utter rubbish.

  3. 3

    CommonwealthNonsense.

    Everything the teacher said during that lesson was rubbish. How can she possibly think that a bass viol and a cello are the same thing?

  4. 4

    obsoleteDebris or ruins of buildings; rubble.

adjective

  1. 1

    CommonwealthIrelandUKcolloquialExceedingly bad; awful.

    This has been a rubbish day, and it’s about to get worse: my mother-in-law is coming to stay.

interjection

  1. 1

    CommonwealthIrelandUKcolloquialUsed to express that something is exceedingly bad, awful, or terrible.

    - The one day I actually practice my violin, the teacher cancels the lesson. - Aw, rubbish! Though at least this means you have time to play football.

  2. 2

    CommonwealthIrelandUKcolloquialUsed to express that what was recently said is nonsense or untrue; balderdash!, nonsense!

    Rubbish! I did nothing of the sort!

verb

  1. 1

    CommonwealthIrelandUKcolloquialTo criticize, to denigrate, to denounce, to disparage.

  2. 2

    AustraliaCommonwealthIrelandUKcolloquialTo litter.

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

Rubbish in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
GermanRamsch (items of low quality), Quatsch, Blödsinn, Unsinn, Mist (nonsense), Müll (used to express that something is exceedingly…)
Frenchabsurdités, inepties (nonsense), décombres (debris or ruins of buildings), pourri (exceedingly bad – see also awful), n'importe quoi (used to express that what was recently said is…)
Portuguesebesteira, asneira (nonsense), porcaria (used to express that something is exceedingly…), horrível (exceedingly bad – see also awful), criticar (to criticize, denigrate – see also criticize…)

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 rubbish come from?

Inherited from Middle English robous (“rubbish, building rubble”), further origin uncertain; possibly from Anglo-Norman rubous, rubouse, rubbouse (“refuse, waste material; building rubble”), and compare Anglo-Latin rebbussa, robousa, robusium, robusum, rubisum, rubusa, rubusium (although the Anglo-Norman and Anglo-Latin words may be derived from the English word instead of the other way around, as there are no known Old French cognates of the word). The English word may be related to rubble, though the connection is unclear.

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

What to look up after rubbish