Carb

How to spell carb

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce carb

What does carb mean?

1. nounAn informal short form of carbohydrate, a starchy or sugary food component used by the body for energy.
2. nounAn informal short form of carburettor, the engine component that blends fuel with air.

Carb in a sentence

• The diet plan limits every carb to a small portion at dinner.

• The mechanic cleaned the clogged carb before the old motorbike would start.

• Bread is a heavier carb than most leafy vegetables.

• A worn carb can make a vintage car run rough at low speed.

Where does carb come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Carb is a modern colloquial clipping, and which longer word it abbreviates depends on context. In its food sense it is short for carbohydrate, a nineteenth century scientific coinage that joined 'carbo-' (from Latin carbo, meaning 'coal' or 'charcoal', the source of the element name carbon) with hydrate, referring to the hydrogen and oxygen bound up in the molecule. The clipped form spread rapidly through diet and fitness culture in the late twentieth century, especially once low-carbohydrate eating became fashionable. In its mechanical sense carb is short for carburettor, the engine part that mixes fuel with air, itself built from the verb 'carburet' and ultimately the same Latin carbo root. Because both parent words trace back to that 'coal/charcoal' idea, the short spelling keeps the tell-tale c-a-r-b that points straight back to carbon.

How the word is built

• clipped form of either 'carbohydrate' or 'carburettor/carburetor'; no internal affixes survive the shortening