tuba

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
6
Words With Friends
8
Letters
4
Pronunciation
/ˈtjuː.bə/ (UK)
See all 5 pronunciations
/ˈtjuː.bə/ (UK) · /ˈtu.bə/ (US) · /ˈtʊ.bə/ · /tuˈbə/ · /tuˈbaʔ/

Definition of tuba

8 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. A large brass musical instrument, usually in the bass range, played through a vibration of the lips upon the mouthpiece and fingering of the keys.
    “One version of the large tuba, popular in marching bands, is called a sousaphone in honor of bandsman John Philip Sousa.”
See all 8 definitions

noun

  1. A large brass musical instrument, usually in the bass range, played through a vibration of the lips upon the mouthpiece and fingering of the keys.
    “One version of the large tuba, popular in marching bands, is called a sousaphone in honor of bandsman John Philip Sousa.”
  2. A large reed stop in organs.
  3. A tube or tubular organ.
    “Compared with skulls of darwini, skulls of andium are smaller with shorter tooth rows (fig. 13), have less globular bullae that taper more gradually to the tubae, and a shorter, proportionately narrower rostrum with nasals usually relatively blunt behind and seldom projecting posteriorly far behind the premaxillae (pl. 11).”
  4. A type of Roman military trumpet, distinct from the modern tuba.
    “From the eleventh century onwards, the trumpets, which had till then been modelled on the Roman tubae with their straightforward and somewhat rough sound, began to grow longer and thinner as their bells widened.”
    “This depicts trumpet blowing angels gripping instruments, of the Roman tubae variety, halfway down with the right hand, the left hand covering their mouth and the mouthpiece.”
    “As he drew nearer to Worms, he heard the brassy blare of Roman tubae from the ruddy sandstone walls of the city.”
  5. (uncountable)A Malayan plant whose roots are a significant source of rotenone, Derris malaccensis.
  6. (Philippines, uncountable)A reddish palm wine made from coconut or nipa sap.
  7. (abbreviation, alt-of)Abbreviation of bass tuba.

name

  1. A municipality of Benguet, Cordillera Administrative Region, Philippines.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

Borrowed in the 19th century from French tuba (“tuba”), German Tuba (“tuba”), originally Baß-Tuba (literally “bass tuba”), or Italian tuba (“tuba”), from Latin tuba (“tube, trumpet, military trumpet”). The Latin term is of obscure ultimate origin, but is possibly connected to tībia (“shinbone, reed-pipe”); see there.

Words you can make from tuba

13 playable · top: ABUT (6 pts)

Best play abut 6 points

4-letter words

1 word

3-letter words

6 words

2-letter words

5 words

Hooks

3 extensions · 3 back

A single letter you can add to tuba to make another valid word.

Find your best play with tuba

See every word you can make from a set of letters that includes tuba, or browse word lists you can mine for high-scoring plays.