cupboard

The story

1. Middle English · inherited fromcuppeborde
2. English todaycupboard

Inherited from Middle English cuppeborde, cupbord. By surface analysis, cup + board. Phonetic variants show that the /p/ in the original forms had assimilated to the present-day /b/ by the 16th century; the etymological spelling has, however, dominated from the 18th century.

First known use, by meaning

• from 16th century. To collect, as into a cupboard; to hoard.