Rub

How to spell rub

3 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce rub

What does rub mean?

1. verbTo move something back and forth over a surface while pressing on it, creating friction.
2. nounAn act of applying friction to a surface, often to clean, soothe, or polish it.
3. nounA central difficulty, snag, or drawback in a plan or situation.

Rub in a sentence

• verb

  She likes to rub moisturiser into her hands before bed.

• noun

  A quick rub with a soft cloth brought the silver back to a shine.

• noun

  The flat is cheap, but here is the rub: it has no parking.

• verb

  If you rub the stain gently, it should lift out of the carpet.

• noun

  The physiotherapist gave his stiff shoulder a firm rub.

• noun

  The job pays well, and that is exactly the rub, since it demands constant travel.

Where does rub come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Rub first appears in Middle English around the 1300s as rubben, and its earlier history is genuinely murky. The most likely source is a Low German or Dutch word in the family of rubben and Frisian rubben, all meaning 'to scrape, scour, or chafe', so the core idea has always been pressing one surface against another. Because the early records are thin, scholars treat the ultimate origin as uncertain rather than firmly Latin or French. The famous noun sense 'an obstacle or snag' was popularised by Shakespeare in Hamlet's line about sleep, where 'there's the rub' meant 'there lies the catch'. Spelling is mercifully simple here: three letters, no silent letters and no doubled consonant in the bare form, though the doubling shows up only when you add an ending, as in rubbing or rubbed.

How the word is built

• rub (single Germanic root meaning to scrape or scour); no prefix or suffix in the bare form