Hubby
nounAn informal, affectionate term for one's husband.
How to spell hubby
5 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce hubby
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does hubby mean?
- nounAn informal, affectionate term for one's husband.
Hubby in a sentence
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Her hubby does all the cooking on weekends.
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My hubby booked the holiday as a surprise.
Where does hubby come from?
Language of origin: Old Norse
Hubby is an affectionate, informal shortening of husband that appears in English from the late 1600s. Husband itself comes from the Old Norse husbondi, which literally meant 'master of a house', formed from hus meaning 'house' and bondi meaning 'a freeholder or occupier of land who tills the soil'. When the Norse settled in England their word displaced older terms, and over time husband narrowed from 'head of the household' to specifically 'a married man'. Speakers later clipped the word to 'hub' and added the cosy diminutive ending, giving the familiar 'hubby' used between couples. The spelling trap is the doubled b: although it derives from a single b in 'hub', the affectionate form keeps the consonant doubled before the -y.
How the word is built
- hub- (clipped from husband)
- -by (familiar, affectionate ending)
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