Meanings
- alternativeAlternative form of ruby (“pronunciation guide for Chinese or Japanese characters”).
Bespoke combinations of kanji can also be created, because the intended phonetic and semantic readings can be supplied by the rubi glosses.
2012, Nana Sato-Rossberg, Judy Wakabayashi, Translation and Translation Studies in the Japanese Context, page 1581 more example
"Shinjuku Sketch" demonstrates another of Ryutanji's trademark techniques, which was established in The Age of Wandering: writing English loan words as kanji Chinese character compounds cribbed with rubi to convey a visual sense of international modernism and global culture.
2010, Alisa Freedman, Tokyo in Transit: Japanese Culture on the Rails and Road, page 170
Origin
- Englishruby
- Japaneseルビ
- Englishrubi
From Japanese ルビ (rubi), from English ruby.
More words from Japanese, English
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
rubi. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rubi
“rubi.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rubi. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “rubi,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rubi.
Source: rubi on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.