cubit

From Middle English cubite, from Latin cubitum (“elbow, cubit”). See also cubitus.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkjuː.bɪt/
• (US) enPR: kyo͞o'bĭt, IPA^(key): /ˈkju.bɪt/
• Rhymes: -uːbɪt
• Homophone: qubit

cubit (plural cubits)

1. (historical units of measure) Various former units of length notionally based on the distance from a grown man's elbow to his fingertips, standardized in different places and times at values between 35 and 60 cm.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Matthew 6:27:

     Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

2. (anatomy) The ulna.

In English, most commonly encountered in biblical Hebrew measures based on the shorter of the two Egyptian cubits, although the term is also used broadly for other units between the length of a foot and a yard. These may be clarified with a preceding adjective: Greek cubit, Roman cubit, &c.

• (unit of length): ell (now properly a separate English unit); arshin, Russian cubit (Russian contexts); dira (modern Middle Eastern contexts)
• (bone): See ulna

• royal cubit

• cubitus

• چوبيت‎

From Proto-Malayic *-bit, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *-bit, from Proto-Austronesian *-bit.

• (Johor-Selangor) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃubet/
• (Riau-Lingga) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃubɪt/
• Rhymes: -ubet, -bet, -et

cubit (Jawi spelling چوبيت, used in the form mencubit)

1. to pinch (to squeeze a small amount of skin)

cubit

1. Alternative form of cubite