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ruby

/ˈɹuː.bi/noun, adjective, verb

ruby is spelled R-U-B-Y: 4 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 9.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,338th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, ruby means “A clear, deep, red variety of corundum, valued as a precious stone” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of ruby is rubies.

How many letters and syllables are in ruby?

Letters4: R-U-B-Y
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing9.5 times per million words; the 7,338th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is ruby?

Ruby appears 9.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,338th 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 ruby?

  • /ˈɹuː.bi/

Ruby 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-AcpoKrane-ruby.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with ruby

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

rubi vs ruby0 B

Also written: rubi.

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with ruby?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as ruby.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: bury.

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 ruby

  • rubies plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • more ruby comparative
  • most ruby superlative
  • rubying participle, present
  • rubied participle, past

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

What does ruby mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A clear, deep, red variety of corundum, valued as a precious stone.

  2. 2

    A deep red colour.

  3. 3

    The tincture red or gules.

  4. 4

    A ruby hummer, a South American hummingbird, Clytolaema rubricauda.

  5. 5

    A red bird-of-paradise, Paradisaea rubra.

  6. 6

    UKdatedThe size of type between pearl and nonpareil, standardized as 5½-point.

  7. 7

    A pronunciation guide written above or beside Chinese characters.

  8. 8

    obsoleteA red spinel.

  9. 9

    slangAlternative letter-case form of Ruby (“curry”).

adjective

  1. 1

    Of a deep, red color; ruby-red.

verb

  1. 1

    To make red; to redden.

noun

as Ruby
  1. 1

    slangA curry; ellipsis of Ruby Murray.

    We're going down the Indian for a Ruby; wanna join us?

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

Ruby in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchrubis (type of gem), caracterès rubis (pronunciation guide)
GermanRubin (type of gem), Weinrot, Rubinrot (colour), weinrot, rubinrot, tiefrot (of a deep red colour)
Portugueserubi (type of gem)
Spanishrubí (type of gem), texto rubí, caracteres rubí (pronunciation guide)

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 ruby come from?

From Middle English ruby, rube, from Old French rubi, from Medieval Latin rubīnus. Doublet of rubi and rubine. Etymology 1 sense 7 (“pronunciation guide”) is from the British 5½-point type size (etymology 1 sense 6), used for annotations in printed documents.

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

What to look up after ruby