rubia

See also: Rubia

Galician

Verb

rubia

1. (reintegrationist norm) first/third-person singular imperfect indicative of rubir

Latin

Etymology

Short for Latin rubia herba. rubia is derived from ruber (“red”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈrʊ.bi.a]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈruː.bi.a]

Noun

rubia f (genitive rubiae); first declension

1. madder
   • c. 77-79 AD, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, 19.17

     in primis rubia, tinguendis lanis et coriis necessaria

     The first of these is madder, the employment of which is necessary in dyeing wool and leather.

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	rubia	rubiae
genitive	rubiae	rubiārum
dative	rubiae	rubiīs
accusative	rubiam	rubiās
ablative	rubiā	rubiīs
vocative	rubia	rubiae

Synonyms

• (madder): alysson

Descendants

• Italian: robbia
• Portuguese: ruiva
• Romanian: roibă
• Spanish: rubia

Borrowings:

• → Proto-Berber:
  • Central Atlas Tamazight: tarrubya
  • Kabyle: tarubya
  • Tashelhit: tarubi
• Translingual: Rubia

References

• “rubia”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “rubia”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈrubja/ [ˈru.β̞ja]
• Rhymes: -ubja
• Syllabification: ru‧bia

Noun

rubia f (plural rubias)

1. female equivalent of rubio (“blonde”)
2. (Spain) station wagon; estate car

   Synonyms: familiar, (Colombia, Venezuela) camioneta, (Mexico) guayín, (Spain) ranchero, (chiefly Argentina) rural, (Chile, Peru, Puerto Rico) station wagon, (Bolivia, Mexico) vagoneta

Adjective

rubia f

1. feminine singular of rubio

Further reading

• “rubia”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025