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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

nub.

The innermost section of a chrysalis in a silk cocoon.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/nʌb/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/nʊb/Ireland, Northern-England
  1. The innermost section of a chrysalis in a silk cocoon.

    obsolete
  2. A small knob or lump.

  3. The essence or core of an issue, argument etc.

    What do you think is the nub of the problem?
  4. The clitoris.

    euphemistic · slang · vulgar
  5. A pointing stick.

    colloquial
  6. A passage of Shakespearean blank verse.

  7. The genital tubercle.

    informal
    nub theory
Where this word comes from

Either directly from Middle Low German, or from knub, from a Middle Low German word (compare Low German Knubbel, Knobbel (“knot; lump”)). Compare knob.

verb/nʌb/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/nʊb/Ireland, Northern-England
  1. To hit the ball weakly.

  2. To push; to nudge.

  3. To beckon.

  4. To extemporize a passage of Shakespearean blank verse

Where this word comes from

Either directly from Middle Low German, or from knub, from a Middle Low German word (compare Low German Knubbel, Knobbel (“knot; lump”)). Compare knob.

noun/nuːb/Received-Pronunciation/nub/General-American
  1. Alternative spelling of noob.

    Internet · alt-of · alternative
    He can’t even make himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? What a nub.
Where this word comes from

Alternative form.

noun/nʌb/General-American
  1. Acronym of new underway bitch or non-useful body (“an underqualified crewmember, generally regarded as inexperienced and unhelpful”).

    US · abbreviation · acronym · alt-of · countable · derogatory · slang
    Get qualified, nub!
Where this word comes from

Acronym.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.