# rebus
## English
### Etymology

From French rébus (“rebus (puzzle); ambiguity; word used in an oblique sense; unintelligible remark”), or directly from its probable etymon Latin rēbus, the ablative plural of rēs (“object, stuff, thing; issue, matter, subject, topic”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *reh₁ís (“goods; wealth”). The connection between the English word and its Latin etymon is unclear.
The following possibilities have been suggested, but according to the Oxford English Dictionary are problematic:
* According to the French scholar Gilles Ménage (1613–1692) in Les origines de la langue françoise (The Origins of the French Language, 1650), it is taken from the phrase de rebus quae geruntur (“concerning the things that are taking place”) which was used in 16th-century Picardy as the name for satirical writings on contemporary subjects containing picture-riddles that were composed for an annual carnival. However, the term rebus de Picardie is first attested later than the word rébus, and so could simply refer to rebuses popular in Picardy at the time.
* Alternatively, it could be from the phrase nōn verbīs sed rēbus meaning “not by words but by things”, but this “encounters difficulties in the chronology of the senses in French”.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) enPR: rē'bəs, IPA: /ˈɹiːbəs/
* Audio (Received Pronunciation):(file)
* (General American) IPA: /ˈɹibəs/
* Rhymes: -iːbəs
* Hyphenation: re‧bus

### Noun

rebus (plural rebuses or (rare) rebusses or (hypercorrect, rare) rebi)
* An arrangement of pictures, symbols, and/or words representing phrases or words, especially as a word puzzle.
    Synonyms: rebus puzzle, dingbat
** 1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, I.i:I back him at a Rebus or a Charade against the best Rhymer in the Kingdom—has your Ladyship heard the Epigram he wrote last week on Lady Frizzle's Feather catching Fire—
* (linguistics) A pictographic component of a compound character (e.g. sinograph) used to hint at the pronunciation of the compound.
    Hypernym: phonetic
    Coordinate term: determinative
* (specifically, heraldry) An arrangement of pictures on a coat of arms which suggests the name of the person to whom it belongs.
    Coordinate term: cant
** 2020 March 5, Hilary Mantel, “Salvage: London, Summer 1536”, in The Mirror & the Light, London: 4th Estate, →ISBN, page 122:The prior [Will Bolton] used to come out here to hunt in summer and recreate himself, and his rebus—a barrel or tun shot through with a crossbow bolt—is set into the garden walls.
* (crosswording) A type of crossword puzzle in which some squares contain entire words, or symbols representing words, instead of single letters.
** 2008 August 5, Michelle Arnot, Four-Letter Words: And Other Secrets of a Crossword Insider, Penguin, →ISBN, page 37:Instead of spelling out card suits, for example, perhaps the constructor inserted a "rebus," or picture icon for clubs, hearts, spades, or diamonds in one answer box.
** 2021 June 2, Jonathan Berkowitz, The Whirl of Words: Puzzling Past and Present, FriesenPress, →ISBN, page 89:Rebuses are a vital part of cryptic crosswords and even themed standard crossword puzzles, as modernized under the leadership of Will Shortz at The New York Times, make use of rebuses.
** 2023 November 14, David Bukszpan, Crosswordese: The Weird and Wonderful Language of Crossword Puzzles, Chronicle Books, →ISBN, page 34:In the cruciverse, a rebus refers to a crossword that violates the basic "one letter per box" rule, requiring the entry of multiple letters - or even a number or symbol - into a single square

#### Derived terms

* rebus principle

#### See also

* visual pun

### Verb

rebus (third-person singular simple present rebuses or rebusses, present participle rebusing or rebussing, simple past and past participle rebused or rebussed) (transitive, obsolete, rare)
* To represent (a phrase or word) as a rebus.
* To apply a rebus to (something).
** 1655, Thomas Fuller, “Section IV. To John Ferrars, of Tamworth Castle, Esquire.”, in The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI), subsection 34 (The Death of Archbishop Morton. A.D. 1500.), page 539:He [John Morton] was a learned man, and had a fair library, (rebussed with more in text and tun under it,) partly remaining in the possession of the late earl of Arundel.

### References

* ↑ “rebus, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2020; “rebus, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
* ↑ Gilles Ménage (1650) Les origines de la langue françoise [The Origins of the French Language], Paris: Chez Augustin Courbé, →OCLC.

### Further reading

* rebus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

### Anagrams

* erubs, Bures, Ubers, burse, Suber, resub, Ruebs, urbes, bures, rubes, Reubs, suber, buers, Burse

## Crimean Tatar
### Etymology

French rébus, from Latin rebus.

### Noun

rebus
* rebus.

#### Declension
### References

* Mirjejev, V. A., Usejinov, S. M. (2002) Ukrajinsʹko-krymsʹkotatarsʹkyj slovnyk [Ukrainian – Crimean Tatar Dictionary]‎, Simferopol: Dolya, →ISBN

## Danish
### Noun

rebus c (singular definite rebussen, plural indefinite rebusser)
* rebus (puzzle)

#### Declension
## Estonian
### Noun

rebus
* inessive singular of rebu

## French
### Verb

rebus
* first/second-person singular past historic of reboire

### Participle

rebus m pl
* masculine plural of rebu

### Anagrams

* beurs

## Indonesian
### Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /rəˈbʊs/
* Rhymes: -bʊs
* Hyphenation: rê‧bus

### Verb

rêbus (active merebus, passive direbus, perfective passive terebus)
* (transitive) to boil (to cook in boiling water)

### Adjective

rêbus
* boiled (cooked in boiling water)

#### Derived terms

* perebus
* perebusan
* rebusan

## Italian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈrɛ.bus/
* Rhymes: -ɛbus
* Hyphenation: rè‧bus

### Noun

rebus m (invariable)
* rebus
* enigma
* puzzle
* conundrum

#### Related terms

* rebussistico

## Latin
### Noun

rēbus f
* dative/ablative plural of rēs (“object, thing, matter”)

### References

* "rebus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

## Malay
### Adjective

rebus (Jawi spelling ربوس)
* boiled (food)

### Verb

rebus
* to boil (food)

### Further reading

* “rebus” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

## Maltese
### Etymology

Borrowed from Italian rebus, from Latin rēbus.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈrɛː.bus/

### Noun

rebus m (plural rebus)
* mess, clutter

## Polish
### Etymology

Borrowed from French rébus. Doublet of raj (“paradise”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈrɛ.bus/
* Rhymes: -ɛbus
* Syllabification: re‧bus

### Noun

rebus m inan (diminutive rebusik)
* rebus (puzzle)

#### Derived terms

* rebusowy

### Further reading

* rebus in Polish dictionaries at PWN
* Brückner, Aleksander (1927) “rebus”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego [Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language] (in Polish), Warsaw: Wiedza Powszechna

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from French rébus.

### Noun

rebus n (plural rebusuri)
* rebus, crossword

#### Declension
## Serbo-Croatian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /rěːbus/
* Hyphenation: re‧bus

### Noun

rébus m (Cyrillic spelling ре́бус)
* rebus

#### Declension
## Swedish
### Noun

rebus c
* a rebus; a kind of word puzzle

#### Synonyms

* bildgåta

#### Related terms

* rebuslösning

### References

* Rebus in Svenska Akademiens ordlista öfver svenska språket (6th ed., 1889)