stubble
/ˈstʌb.əl/noun, verb
stubble is spelled S-T-U-B-B-L-E: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 34,063rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, stubble means “Short, coarse hair, especially on a man’s face” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of stubble is stubbles.
How many letters and syllables are in stubble?
| Letters | 7: S-T-U-B-B-L-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 34,063rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is stubble?
Stubble appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 34,063rd 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 stubble?
- /ˈstʌb.əl/
Stubble 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-stubble.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of stubble
- stubbles plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- stubbling participle, present
- stubbled participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does stubble mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Short, coarse hair, especially on a man’s face.
- 2
The short stalks left in a field after crops have been harvested.
verb
- 1
To produce a crop in a field of stubble that remains after a preceding crop is removed, either by sowing a second crop or by allowing shoots to sprout from the roots of the stubble.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Stubble in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | barbe de trois jours , éteule |
| German | Stoppel, Bartstoppel, Stoppeln, Bartstoppeln, Dreitagebart |
| Portuguese | barbicha , restolho |
| Spanish | barba de unos días, barba incipiente, barbita , rastrojo |
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 stubble come from?
From Middle English stuble, from Anglo-Norman stuble, estuble, from Old French estoble, esteule (whence Modern French éteule), from Latin stipula (“stalk, straw”). Cognate with Dutch stoppel, Central German Stoppel, Upper German Stupfel. Doublet of stipule.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).