Meanings
ibu1
nounibu (countable and uncountable, plural ibus)
plural ibus
- colloquialcountableuncommonuncountableibuprofen
IBU2
nounIBU (plural IBUs)
plural IBUs
- abbreviationinitialismbeerInitialism of International Bitterness Unit: a measure of the bitterness of beer.
On a tour of the cavernous and gleaming BrewDog plant in Ellon, just north of Aberdeen, Dickie happily batted around terminology – IBU, ABV, pH, haze, present gravity, headspace oxygen – with PhD-level microbiologists working in the lab.
2016 March 24, Jon Henley, “The aggressive, outrageous, infuriating (and ingenious) rise of BrewDog”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
Origin
Clipping of ibuprofen.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
ibu. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ibu
MLA
“ibu.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ibu. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ibu,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ibu.
Source: ibu on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.