Etymology

rubber

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Today it means: Pliable material derived from the sap of the rubber tree; a hydrocarbon biopolymer of isoprene. Full definition →

English rub ← Middle English rubben ← Proto-West Germanic *rubbōn?
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rubber · noun, adjective1

  1. Proto-Germanic*rubbōną
  2. Proto-West Germanic*rubbōn?
  3. Middle Englishrubben
  4. Englishrub
  5. English todayrubber

From rub + -er. The sense of the substance comes from its ability to function as an eraser, displacing earlier caoutchouc. The senses not pertaining to rubbing or erasing are secondarily derived from the name of the substance.

rubber · noun2

Unknown.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.