Rubber
/ˈrʌb.ər/noun
A tough elastic material made from latex or a similar synthetic substance; also a tool or object used for rubbing.
Did you know?The sense of rubber as an elastic material comes from the 18th-century use of the substance for rubbing out pencil marks, while the older verb sense goes back to Old English, rooted in the plain physical act of rubbing.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*reup-
“to break, tear, or rub”
Old English
EN
rubban
“to rub or chafe”
Middle English
EN
rubben
“to rub, scour, or erase by rubbing”
18th Century
EN
rubber
“an object used for rubbing out marks”
19th Century
EN
rubber
“the elastic material obtained from latex”
Modern English
EN
rubber
“an elastic material; also an eraser in some varieties of English”