rubble

B2 Topic:Space, Position & Direction

US /ˈɹʌb.əl/ See IPA manual

Freq #12201

Meanings

1

noun
Broken pieces of stone, brick, or concrete left after a building has been destroyed.

Rescue workers searched the rubble for survivors.
2

verb
To reduce something to broken pieces.

The earthquake rubbled entire neighbourhoods.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · broken pieces of stone,... debris

Word family

Forms rubbles

Derived forms rubblestonerubbleworkrubblizationrubblizerubbly

Related forms rubbish

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English rouble, rubel, robel, robeil, from Anglo-Norman *robel (“bits of broken stone”). Presumably related to rubbish, originally of same meaning (waste material, bits of stone, rubble). Ultimately presumably from Old Norse rubba (“to huddle, crowd together, heap up", possibly also "to rub, scrape”), from Proto-Germanic *rubbōną (“to rub, scrape”), related to Proto-Germanic *reufaną (“to tear”), *raubōną (“to rob, steal, plunder”), perhaps via Old French robe (English rob (“steal”)) in sense of “plunder, destroy”; see also Middle English, Middle French -el.

rouble,rubel,robel,robeil Middle English *robel xno rubba Old Norse *rubbōną Proto-Germanic robe Old French

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# rubble

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /ˈɹʌb.əl/
**Frequency rank:** 12201

## Meanings
1. Broken pieces of stone, brick, or concrete left after a building has been destroyed.
2. To reduce something to broken pieces.

## Examples
- Rescue workers searched the rubble for survivors.
- The earthquake rubbled entire neighbourhoods.

## Derived Forms
- rubblestone
- rubblework
- rubblization
- rubblize
- rubbly

## Related Forms
- rubbish

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: rouble,rubel,robel,robeil
- Root: *robel
- Root: rubba
- Root: *rubbōną
- Root: robe

## Etymology
Inherited from Middle English rouble, rubel, robel, robeil, from Anglo-Norman *robel (“bits of broken stone”). Presumably related to rubbish, originally of same meaning (waste material, bits of stone, rubble). Ultimately presumably from Old Norse rubba (“to huddle, crowd together, heap up", possibly also "to rub, scrape”), from Proto-Germanic *rubbōną (“to rub, scrape”), related to Proto-Germanic *reufaną (“to tear”), *raubōną (“to rob, steal, plunder”), perhaps via Old French robe (English rob (“steal”)) in sense of “plunder, destroy”; see also Middle English, Middle French -el.

## AI Etymology
Rubble is inherited from Middle English rouble, rubel, robel, robeil, from Anglo-Norman *robel (“bits of broken stone”). Presumably related to rubbish, originally of same meaning (waste material, bits of stone, rubble). Ultimately presumably from Old Norse rubba (“to huddle, crowd together, heap up", possibly also "to rub, scrape”), from Proto-Germanic *rubbōną (“to rub, scrape”), related to Proto-Germanic *reufaną (“to tear”), *raubōną (“to rob, steal, plunder”), perhaps via Old French robe (English rob (“steal”)) in sense of “plunder, destroy”; see also Middle English, Middle French -el. Modern senses include broken pieces of stone, brick, or concrete left after a building has been destroyed. and to reduce something to broken pieces.. The wider word family includes derivatives such as rubblestone, rubblework, rubblization, rubblize, and rubbly and related forms such as rubbish.

## Topics
- Space, Position & Direction

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rubble

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