Standard Lemma guide

cupboard

noun · verb · 7 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈkʌb.əd/
  • London: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Canada, General-American: /ˈkʌb.ɚd/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Australian, New-Zealand: /ˈkɐb.əd/
  • Queensland Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • /ˈkʌp.boɹd/ Philippines and non-native speakers' English
  • Northern-England: /ˈkʊbəd/
  • /ˈkʊbərd/ Ottawa Valley
  • rhymes with -ʌbə(ɹ)d
  • CMU ARPABET: K AH1 B ER0 D Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A board or table used to openly hold and display silver plate and other dishware; a sideboard; a buffet.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Things displayed on a sideboard; dishware, particularly valuable plate.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture with shelves intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food; similar cabinets or closets used for storing other items.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Put the cups back into the cupboard.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A closet for storing coats.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Pennsylvania, UK, Western

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

Things stored in a cupboard; particularly food.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

verb

Meaning 6

To collect, as into a cupboard; to hoard.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

a small room (or recess) or cabinet used for storage space

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: closet

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: storage space

Narrower terms: airing cupboard, broom closet, safe, supply closet

History

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English cuppeborde, cupbord. Equivalent to 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.

Across languages

Translations

162 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: kas — enclosed storage
  • Albanian: dollap — enclosed storage
  • Albanian: bufe — enclosed storage
  • Arabic: خِزَانَة (ḵizāna) — enclosed storage
  • Arabic: دلاب (dulāb) — enclosed storage
  • Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܕܘܿܠܵܒܟ̰ܵܐ (dolabča) — enclosed storage
  • Armenian: պահարան (paharan) — enclosed storage
  • Assamese: আলমাৰী (almari) — enclosed storage
  • Asturian: almariu — enclosed storage
  • Azerbaijani: şkaf — enclosed storage
  • Basque: armairu — enclosed storage
  • Belarusian: ша́фа (šáfa) — enclosed storage
  • Bengali: আলমারি (almari) — enclosed storage
  • Bulgarian: бюфе́т (bjufét) — enclosed storage
  • Bulgarian: шкаф (škaf) — enclosed storage
  • Catalan: armari — enclosed storage
  • Catalan: calaixera — enclosed storage
  • Cebuano: aparador — enclosed storage
  • Chichewa: m'kabati — enclosed storage
  • Chinese Cantonese: 櫃 /柜 (gwai6) — enclosed storage
  • Chinese Mandarin: 櫥櫃 /橱柜 (chúguì) — enclosed storage
  • Chinese Mandarin: 櫃子 /柜子 (guìzi) — enclosed storage
  • Chinese Mandarin: 碗櫃 /碗柜 (wǎnguì) — enclosed storage
  • Cornish: amary — enclosed storage
  • Czech: skříň — enclosed storage
  • Danish: skab — enclosed storage
  • Central Dusun: lamari — enclosed storage
  • Dutch: kast — enclosed storage
  • Emilian: armèri — enclosed storage
  • Emilian: armàri — enclosed storage
  • Esperanto: ŝranko — enclosed storage
  • Estonian: kapp — enclosed storage
  • Farefare: kobɔɔtɩ — enclosed storage
  • Finnish: astiakaappi — enclosed storage
  • Finnish: kaappi — enclosed storage
  • French: placard — enclosed storage
  • French: armoire — enclosed storage
  • North Frisian: schååp — enclosed storage
  • Galician: armario — enclosed storage
  • Galician: alacena — enclosed storage
  • Galician: cunqueiro — enclosed storage
  • Georgian: კარადა (ḳarada) — enclosed storage
  • German: Schrank — enclosed storage
  • German: Gänterli — enclosed storage
  • Greek: ντουλάπι (ntoulápi) — enclosed storage
  • Greek: ερμάριο (ermário) — enclosed storage
  • Hebrew: ארון (aron) — enclosed storage
  • Hebrew: ארונית (aronit) — enclosed storage
  • Hebrew: מִזְנוֹן (miznone) — enclosed storage
  • Hiligaynon: kabinet — enclosed storage
  • Hindi: अलमारी (almārī) — enclosed storage
  • Hungarian: szekrény — enclosed storage
  • Icelandic: skápur — enclosed storage
  • Ido: armoro — enclosed storage
  • Indonesian: lemari — enclosed storage
  • Ingrian: škaappi — enclosed storage
  • Irish: almóir — enclosed storage
  • Irish: cupard — enclosed storage
  • Irish: prios — enclosed storage
  • Italian: armadio — enclosed storage
  • Italian: credenza — enclosed storage
  • Japanese: 食器棚 (shokkidana) — enclosed storage
  • Javanese: lemari — enclosed storage
  • Javanese: lemantun — enclosed storage
  • Kalmyk: үкүг (üküg) — enclosed storage
  • Kazakh: шкаф (şkaf) — enclosed storage
  • Khmer: ទូ (tuu) — enclosed storage
  • Korean: 찬장 (chanjang) — enclosed storage
  • Korean: 벽장 (byeokjang) — enclosed storage
  • Kyrgyz: шкаф (şkaf) — enclosed storage
  • Lao: ຕູ້ (tū) — enclosed storage
  • Latin: armārium — enclosed storage
  • Latin: promptuārium — enclosed storage
  • Latvian: skapis — enclosed storage
  • Lithuanian: spinta — enclosed storage
  • Luhya: likapati — enclosed storage
  • Macedonian: шкаф (škaf) — enclosed storage
  • Malay: almari — enclosed storage
  • Malay: gerobok — enclosed storage
  • Malayalam: അലമാരി (alamāri) — enclosed storage
  • Māori: kāpata — enclosed storage
  • Mirandese: almairo — enclosed storage
  • Norman: armouaithe — enclosed storage
  • Norwegian Bokmål: skap — enclosed storage
  • Pashto: المارۍ (almārəy) — enclosed storage
  • Dari: اَلْمَارِی (almārī) — enclosed storage
  • Iranian Persian: گَنْجِه (ganje) — enclosed storage
  • Iranian Persian: قَفَسِه (ġafase) — enclosed storage
  • Iranian Persian: کابینِت (kâbinet) — enclosed storage
  • Iranian Persian: اِشْکاف (eškâf) — enclosed storage
  • Plautdietsch: Schaup — enclosed storage
  • Plautdietsch: Schrank — enclosed storage
  • Polish: szafa — enclosed storage
  • Portuguese: armário — enclosed storage
  • Romanian: dulap — enclosed storage
  • Russian: шкаф (škaf) — enclosed storage
  • Russian: буфе́т (bufét) — enclosed storage
  • Russian: серва́нт (servánt) — enclosed storage
  • Scottish Gaelic: preas — enclosed storage
  • Serbo-Croatian: креденац — enclosed storage
  • Serbo-Croatian: kredenac — enclosed storage
  • Sicilian: armariu — enclosed storage
  • Slovak: skriňa — enclosed storage
  • Slovene: omara — enclosed storage
  • Slovene: omarica — enclosed storage
  • Slovene: kredenca — enclosed storage
  • Lower Sorbian: spižka — enclosed storage
  • Spanish: armario — enclosed storage
  • Spanish: vitrina — enclosed storage
  • Spanish: alacena — enclosed storage
  • Swahili: kabati — enclosed storage
  • Swedish: skåp — enclosed storage
  • Tagalog: paminggalan — enclosed storage
  • Tagalog: binggal — enclosed storage
  • Tagalog: aparador — enclosed storage
  • Tagalog: platera — enclosed storage
  • Tagalog: almaryo — enclosed storage
  • Tajik: ҷевон (jevon) — enclosed storage
  • Tamil: அலமாரி (alamāri) — enclosed storage
  • Thai: ตู้ (dtûu) — enclosed storage
  • Thai: ตู้กับข้าว (dtûu-gàp-kâao) — enclosed storage
  • Thai: ตู้อาหาร (dtûu-aa-hǎan) — enclosed storage
  • Turkish: dolap — enclosed storage
  • Turkmen: şkaf — enclosed storage
  • Ukrainian: буфе́т (bufét) — enclosed storage
  • Ukrainian: серва́нт (servánt) — enclosed storage
  • Ukrainian: ша́фа (šáfa) — enclosed storage
  • Urdu: اَلْماری (almārī) — enclosed storage
  • Uyghur: ئىشكاپ (ishkap) — enclosed storage
  • Uzbek: shkaf — enclosed storage
  • Vietnamese: tủ — enclosed storage
  • Welsh: cwpwrdd — enclosed storage
  • West Flemish: kasse — enclosed storage
  • Yakut: ыскаап (ïskaap) — enclosed storage
  • Yiddish: שאַפֿע (shafe) — enclosed storage
  • Yiddish: שאַפֿקע (shafke) — enclosed storage
  • Yiddish: וואַנטשאַפֿקע (vantshafke) — enclosed storage
  • Yup'ik: eskaapaq — enclosed storage
  • Zulu: ekhabetheni — enclosed storage
  • Bulgarian: бюфе́т (bjufét) — a cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food
  • Dutch: keukenkast — a cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food
  • Finnish: astiakaappi — a cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food
  • French: buffet — a cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food
  • Galician: chineiro — a cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food
  • German: Küchenschrank — a cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food
  • Hungarian: konyhaszekrény — a cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food
  • Italian: credenza — a cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food
  • Italian: madia — a cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food
  • Italian: dispensa — a cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food
  • Italian: vetrinetta — a cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food
  • Javanese: lemari — a cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food
  • Javanese: lemantun — a cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food
  • Latin: armārium — a cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food
  • Plautdietsch: Schaup — a cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food
  • Plautdietsch: Schrank — a cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food
  • Polish: kredens — a cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food
  • Polish: szafka kuchenna — a cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food
  • Tamil: அலமாரி (alamāri) — a cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food
  • Ottoman Turkish: طولاب (dolab) — a cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food
  • Vietnamese: tủ đựng chén — a cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food
  • Vietnamese: tủ búp phê — a cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food
  • Vietnamese: tủ chè — a cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food
Real reading context

cupboard in complete knowledge articles