Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Cubit |
CubitNoun1. An ancient unit of length based on the length of the forearm. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "cubit" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1379. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Bible | Cubit Heb. 'ammah; i.e., "mother of the arm," the fore-arm, is a word derived from the Latin cubitus, the lower arm. It is difficult to determine the exact length of this measure, from the uncertainty whether it included the entire length from the elbow to the tip of the longest finger, or only from the elbow to the root of the hand at the wrist. The probability is that the longer was the original cubit. The common computation as to the length of the cubit makes it 20.24 inches for the ordinary cubit, and 21.888 inches for the sacred one. This is the same as the Egyptian measurements. A rod or staff the measure of a cubit is called in Judg. 3:16 _gomed_, which literally means a "cut," something "cut off." The LXX. and Vulgate render it "span." Source: Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
After the foot, it is the first recorded unit of length used by an ancient people. Around 1950 BC, the copper bar cubit of Nippur defines the Sumerian cubit as 51.72 cm (20.17 inches).
There were several cubits of different magnitudes that were used. In Egypt, the common cubit was the length of the forearm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger (about 18 inches / 46 cm). It was divided into the span of the hand (one-half cubit), the palm or width of the hand (one sixth), and the digit or width of a finger (one twenty-fourth).
Because one person's forearm tended to be a different length to the next person's, a standardised Royal Master Cubit, or Sacred Cubit, was cut in granite. This was 7 palms or 28 digits long, and was used in the construction of buildings and monuments (such as the pyramids) and in surveying.
The inch, foot, and yard are thought to be connected to the cubit through a complicated transformation not yet fully understood. Some believe they evolved from cubic measures; others believe they were simple proportions or multiples of the cubit.
See also: Historical weights and measures
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Cubit."
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Length | Line, nail, inch, hand, palm, foot, cubit, yard, ell, fathom, rood, pole, furlong, mile, league; chain, link; arpent, handbreadth, jornada, kos, vara. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Cubit |
| English words defined with "cubit": Coudee, Cubited. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "cubit": Ammah ♦ Barbe ♦ Ehud ♦ Giants. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "cubit": Concubine. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Cubit" is also a word in the following language with the English translation in parentheses. Indonesian (nip). |
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Cubit" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Cubit" is used about 9 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 9 | 117,287 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "cubit" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Cubit | Last name | 200 | 32,190 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
cubit | 58 |
cubit measurement | 5 |
cubit foot | 3 |
carla cubit | 3 |
cubit royal | 2 |
cubit long | 2 |
cubit whats | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "cubit"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | аршин (yard-measure), лакътна кост, лакът (elbow). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | loket (elbow, Ell). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | ellepýp (ell, ulna), el (ell, ulna). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Faeroese | alin (ell, ulna), albogaleggur (ell, ulna). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | elle (ell, ulna, yard, yardstick). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | πήχησ (batten, forearm). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | könyökcsont. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | cubito (ulna). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | reaish (span), craue roih. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ubitcay cúbito (ulna). (various references) cot (bend, crack, crook, curvature, curve, elbow, Ell, knee, knuckle, loop, meander, sweep, turn, turning, twist, winding). (various references) локтевая кость (funny bone, ulna, ulnae, ulnas), локоть (elbow). (various references) lakat (elbow, ell). (various references) codo (elbow). (various references) aln (ell, ulna). (various references) eski bir uzunluk ölçüsü birimi. (various references) ліктьова кістка (ulna). (various references) cyfelin (eighteen inches), cufydd. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Sumerian | 3100 BCE-2500 BCE | kùš. (various references) |
| Akkadian | 3000 BCE-Modern | ammatu. (various references) |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | cubiti, cubitis, cubito, cubitorum, cubitos, cubitum, cubitus. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Matthew Chapter 6, Verse 27 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | TiV de ex umwn merimnwn dunatai prosqeinai epi thn hlikian autou phcun ena |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Quis autem vestrum cogitans potest adicere ad staturam suam cubitum unum |
| Old English | 990 | West Saxon | Hwilc eower maig soðlice þencen þæthe ge-eacnige enne elne to his anlichnysse. |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | But who of you thenkynge mai putte to his stature o cubit? |
| Renaissance English | 1526 | Tyndale | Which of you (though he toke thought therfore) coulde put one cubit vnto his stature? |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | Which of you by anxious care can add one cubit to his stature? |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | And which of you by taking thought is able to make himself a cubit taller? |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Matthew Chapter 6, Verse 27 |
| Cebuano | Ug kinsa man kaninyoy makadugang ug usa ka takna sa gitas-on sa iyang kinabuhi pinaagi sa pagkabalaka? |
| Chinese | 們 那 一 個 能 " 思 慮 、 使 壽 數 多 一 刻 呢 。 " 或 作 使 身 量 多 一 肘 呢 〕 |
| Croatian | A tko od vas zabrinutošæu može svome stasu dodati jedan lakat? |
| Danish | Og hvem af eder kan ved at bekymre sig lægge een Alen til sin Vækst? |
| Dutch | Wie toch van u kan, met bezorgd te zijn, een el tot zijn lengte toedoen? |
| Finnish | Ja kuka teistä voi murehtimisellaan lisätä ikäänsä kyynäränkään vertaa? |
| French | Qui de vous, par ses inquiétudes, peut ajouter une coudée la durée de sa vie? |
| German | Wer ist aber unter euch, der seiner Länge eine Elle zusetzen möge, ob er gleich darum sorget? |
| Hungarian | Kicsoda pedig az közületek, a ki aggodalmaskodásával megnövelheti termetét egy araszszal? |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Siapakah dari kalian yang dengan kekhawatirannya dapat memperpanjang umurnya biarpun sedikit? |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Siapakah di antara kamu dengan kuatirnya dapat melanjutkan umurnya barang sedikit pun? |
| Korean | 너 희 중 에 누 가 염 함 으 로 그 키 를 한 자 나 " 수 있 느 냐 ? |
| Latvian | Bet kas no jums var pie sava auguma pielikt vienu olekti? |
| Manx Gaelic | Quoi jiuish liorish imnea erbee oddys un chubit y chur gys e yrjid hene? |
| Maori | Ko wai o koutou e taea e ia te whakaaro iho, te hono tetahi wahi ki tona roa, kia kotahi te whatianga? |
| Norwegian | Og hvem av eder kan med all sin bekymring legge en alen til sin livslengde? |
| Rumanian | Wi apoi, cine dintre voi, chiar kngrijorkndu-se, poate sq adauge mqcar un cot la knqlyimea lui? |
| Shuar | Nu arantcha ti Enentáimkiumsha ¿nujai tsakartatmek?' |
| Spanish | ¿Quién de vosotros podrá, por más que se afane, añadir a su estatura un codo? |
| Swahili | Ni nani miongoni mwenu kwa kuwa na wasiwasi sana anaweza kuuongeza muda wa maisha yake? |
| Swedish | Vilken av eder kan, med allt sitt bekymmer, lägga en enda aln till sin livslängd? |
| Uma | Napa-mi kalaua-na wori' rahi pekiri-ni pai' kakoroa' -ni. Apa' nau' sese' ncuu-ta mpopekiri wori' nyala, uma-ta bisa mpodonihii umuru-ta nau' kampa' hamengi. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "cubit": cubital, cubits. (additional references) | |
| |
"Cubit" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: cabat, cabet, cabit, Caubet, cbi, cbt, Ccbi, Chubut, cibit, Cobbet, cobet, cobi, cogit, Corbit, Cubatao, Cubatoa, cubbit, Cubbitt, cubia, cubik, cubin, cubip, cubo, cubt, cubuto, cudit, cuib, cuit, Cuitt, culit, cunit, curit, Kubat, Kubbet, Kubik, Kubin, kubit, Kulbir, kulit, Mcbeth, qubit, subito, ubet, ubti. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "cubit" (pronounced kyuw"bi't) |
| 3 | -b i' t | Babbitt, debit, gambit, kilobit, megabit, rabbit, tidbit. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "b-c-i-t-u" | |
-2 letters: bit, but, cub, cut, tic, tub, tui. | |
-3 letters: bi, it, ti, ut. | |
| Words containing the letters "b-c-i-t-u" | |
+1 letter: bustic, cubist, cubits. | |
+2 letters: biscuit, bustics, butyric, cubists, cubital. | |
+3 letters: bauxitic, biscuits, bluetick, bucktail, cubicity, cubistic, cucurbit, incubate, outbitch, outclimb, subcutis, suboptic, subtonic, subtopic, subtunic. | |
+4 letters: abducting, abduction, bacterium, bifurcate, bismuthic, blueticks, bounciest, bucketing, bucktails, bunchiest, chubbiest, clubbiest, columbite, crumbiest, cucurbits, hubristic, incubated, incubates, incubator, incumbent, interclub, lubricant, lubricate, lubricity, nightclub, obscurity, outclimbs, publicist, publicity, rubricate, scorbutic, subarctic, subatomic, subscript, subtonics, subtopics, subtropic, subtunics, tubificid. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Commercial 4. Usage Frequency | 5. Names: Frequency 6. Expressions: Internet 7. Translations: Modern 8. Translations: Ancient | 9. Bible Trace 10. Derivations 11. Rhymes 12. Anagrams | 13. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
