Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

hubbub

/ˈhʌbʌb/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.51 in modern English

Syllables: hub-bub
IPA: /ˈhʌbʌb/

15

Scrabble Score

6

Letters

2

Syllables

3

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A confused sound of a crowd of people shouting or speaking simultaneously; an uproar.

Countable

noun

Noisy confusion; commotion, uproar; (countable) an instance of this; an ado, a commotion.

Uncountable

noun

A sound of people making a battle cry or war cry.

Countable; Obsolete

verb

To make a confused sound of a crowd of people shouting or speaking simultaneously; to cause a racket or tumult.

Intransitive verb

noun

Synonym of bowl game (“a Native American game of chance involving the throwing of colored nuts from a bowl, comparable to dice”).

American usage; Uncountable

Example Sentences

"They heard a noyſe of many bagpipes ſhrill, / And ſhrieking Hububs them approching nere, / VVhich all the foreſt did vvith horrour fill: […]"
"And had not the old-man come in vvith a VVhoo-bub againſt his Daughter, and the Kings Sonne, and ſcar'd my Chovvghes from the Chaffe, I had not left a Purſe aliue in the vvhole Army."
"At length a univerſal hubbub vvilde / Of ſtunning ſounds and voices all confus'd, / Born [borne] through the hollovv dark aſſaults his eare / VVith loudeſt vehemence: […]"
"[T]he mighty Amsterdam, […] its Exchange resounding with the endless hubbub of all the languages spoken by civilised men."
"The vvindovves clattring / And all the Chambermaides in ſuch a vvhobub, / One vvith her ſmocke halfe off, another in haſt / VVith a ſervingmans hoſe upon her head."
"[page 123] [E]ven as they entred into the fair, all the people in the fair vvere moved, and the Tovvn it ſelf as it vvere in a Hubbub about them; […] [page 127] Then vvere theſe tvvo poor men brought before their Examiners again, and there charged as being guilty of the late Hubbub that had been in the fair."

Etymology

In early use, the noun is often mentioned as a cry by Irish people, and so is possibly borrowed from Irish; compare Irish ababú, abú (“used as a battle cry”), and Scottish Gaelic ub, ub, ubub (“used to express contempt, etc.”), ubh ubh (“used to express disgust”). The verb is derived from the noun.

Origin

Source language: Irish

Word Breakdown

Root: -

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈhʌbʌb/
British English: /ˈhʌbʌb/

Usage

Inflected Forms

hubbubs (plural) hub-bub (alternative) whobub (alternative) hubbubs (present, singular) hubbubbing (participle, present) hubbubing (participle, present) hubbubbed (participle, past) hubbubbed (past) hubbubed (participle, past) hubbubed (past)

Frequently Paired Words

hubbaboo hubbuboo

Synonyms

hubbuboo hue and cry racket tumult ado argy-bargy bangarang bobbery brouhaha bunfight bustle bust-up

Questions

How do you pronounce hubbub?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈhʌbʌb/.
What does hubbub mean?: A confused sound of a crowd of people shouting or speaking simultaneously; an uproar.
Where does hubbub come from?: It is traced to Irish.

How to pronounce hubbub

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “hubbub”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈhʌbʌb/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “hubbub”.
Repeat and practice — Say “hubbub” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.