rubbish

B1 Topic:General Vocabulary

Also spelled rubbage and rubbidge

US /ˈɹʌbɪʃ/ See IPA manual

Freq #3690

Meanings

1

noun
Things you throw away because they are no longer wanted; waste.

Please put the rubbish in the bin.
2

noun
Nonsense; something silly or untrue.

Don't talk rubbish, of course you can do it.
3

adj
Very bad; of poor quality.

The film was absolutely rubbish.
4

intj
Used to say that something is untrue or nonsense.

Rubbish! I never said any such thing.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · things you throw away... garbage trash junk litter

2 noun · nonsense; something silly... nonsense balderdash

3 adj · very bad; of poor quality. awful terrible

4 intj · used to say that something... nonsense

Word family

Forms rubbishedrubbishesrubbishing

Derived forms gubbishrubbisherrubbishingrubbishlyrubbishnessrubbishryrubbishyunrubbish

Related forms rubble

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

rubbish heap
a pile of discarded waste

Noun + noun

Idioms (1)

See all

good riddance to bad rubbish
used to express relief that an unwanted person or thing has gone

Simplified etymology

Rubbish comes from Anglo-Norman French rubbous and may be related to Old French robe, “spoils.” Its ending was reshaped under the influence of other words ending in -ish. The verb meaning “to denigrate” arose in Australian and New Zealand slang in the 1950s.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English robous (“rubbish, building rubble”), further origin uncertain; possibly from Anglo-Norman rubous, rubouse, rubbouse (“refuse, waste material; building rubble”), and compare Anglo-Latin rebbussa, robousa, robusium, robusum, rubisum, rubusa, rubusium (although the Anglo-Norman and Anglo-Latin words may be derived from the English word instead of the other way around, as there are no known Old French cognates of the word). The English word may be related to rubble, though the connection is unclear. Possibly derived ultimately from Old Norse rubba (“to huddle, crowd t…

robous Middle English rubous xno rubba Old Norse *rubbōną Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# rubbish

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun, adj, intj
**IPA (US):** /ˈɹʌbɪʃ/
**Frequency rank:** 3690

## Meanings
1. Things you throw away because they are no longer wanted; waste.
2. Nonsense; something silly or untrue.
3. Very bad; of poor quality.
4. Used to say that something is untrue or nonsense.

## Examples
- Please put the rubbish in the bin.
- Don't talk rubbish, of course you can do it.
- The film was absolutely rubbish.
- Rubbish! I never said any such thing.

## Derived Forms
- gubbish
- rubbisher
- rubbishing
- rubbishly
- rubbishness
- rubbishry
- rubbishy
- unrubbish

## Related Forms
- rubble

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: robous
- Root: rubous
- Root: rubba
- Root: *rubbōną

## Etymology
Inherited from Middle English robous (“rubbish, building rubble”), further origin uncertain; possibly from Anglo-Norman rubous, rubouse, rubbouse (“refuse, waste material; building rubble”), and compare Anglo-Latin rebbussa, robousa, robusium, robusum, rubisum, rubusa, rubusium (although the Anglo-Norman and Anglo-Latin words may be derived from the English word instead of the other way around, as there are no known Old French cognates of the word). The English word may be related to rubble, though the connection is unclear. Possibly derived ultimately from Old Norse rubba (“to huddle, crowd t…

## AI Etymology
Rubbish is inherited from Middle English robous (“rubbish, building rubble”), further origin uncertain; possibly from Anglo-Norman rubous, rubouse, rubbouse (“refuse, waste material; building rubble”), and compare Anglo-Latin rebbussa, robousa, robusium, robusum, rubisum, rubusa, rubusium (although the Anglo-Norman and Anglo-Latin words may be derived from the English word instead of the other way around, as there are no known Old French cognates of the word). The English word may be related to rubble, though the connection is unclear. Modern senses include things you throw away because they are no longer wanted; waste. and nonsense; something silly or untrue.. The wider word family includes derivatives such as gubbish, rubbisher, rubbishing, rubbishly, rubbishness, and rubbishry and related forms such as rubble.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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