Tub

How to spell tub

3 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce tub

What does tub mean?

1. nounA broad, open container, or a large basin used for bathing.

Tub in a sentence

• She filled the tub with warm water before getting in.

• He bought a plastic tub to store the garden tools.

Where does tub come from?

Language of origin: Dutch

Tub entered English in the late 1300s, most likely from Middle Dutch tubbe or Middle Low German tubbe, both naming a small wooden cask or open vessel built from staves and hoops. The word is part of a cluster of practical container names that English picked up from Low Country traders and craftsmen during the medieval wool and ale trade. Its original sense was strictly that of a broad, open wooden vessel used for washing, brewing, or storing goods, and only later did it stretch to the fixed bathing basin we picture today. The compact spelling has stayed remarkably stable, since it is simply three letters that match its sound, which makes it one of the easier short words to write. A faint relative survives in the old sailor's nickname for a slow, clumsy boat, which was likewise called a tub for its rounded, barrel-like shape.

How the word is built

• tub (single root, no affixes; from Middle Dutch/Middle Low German tubbe meaning a small cask)