rebus

See also: Rebus, rébus, and rebus'

English

Etymology

From French rébus, from Latin rebus (ablative plural of res (“thing”)), taken either from the phrase de rebus quae geruntur "concerning the things that are taking place", used in sixteenth-century Picardie as the name for satirical pieces containing picture-riddles, or from the phrase nōn verbīs sed rēbus meaning "not by words but by things".

Pronunciation

• enPR: rē'bəs, IPA^(key): /ˈɹiːbəs/
• Rhymes: -iːbəs

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Noun

rebus (plural rebuses)

1. A kind of word puzzle which uses pictures to represent words or parts of words.
2. (heraldry) A pictorial suggestion on a coat of arms of the name of the person to whom it belongs.
   • 2020, Hilary Mantel, The Mirror and the Light, Fourth Estate, page 122:

     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.

Synonyms

• (word puzzle): dingbat

Derived terms

• (word puzzle): rebus principle

Translations

puzzle

• Armenian: ռեբուս (hy) (ṙebus), նկարահանելուկ (hy) (nkarahaneluk)
• Belarusian: рэ́бус m (rébus)
• Bulgarian: ре́бус m (rébus)
• Catalan: jeroglífic (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 畫謎 (zh), 画谜 (zh) (huàmí)

• Czech: rébus (cs) m
• Danish: rebus
• Dutch: rebus (nl)
• Finnish: kuva-arvoitus (fi)
• French: rébus (fr)

• German: Bilderrätsel (de), Rebus (de)
• Greek: εικονόγριφος m (eikonógrifos)
• Hebrew: רֶבּוּס‎ (he) m (rebus)
• Italian: rebus (it)
• Polish: rebus (pl)
• Portuguese: rébus m
• Russian: ре́бус (ru) m (rébus)
• Spanish: jeroglífico
• Swedish: rebus (sv)
• Ukrainian: ре́бус m (rébus)

pictorial suggestion of a person's name

• Finnish: kuvakirjoitus (fi)

Verb

rebus (third-person singular simple present rebuses, present participle rebusing, simple past and past participle rebused)

1. (transitive) To mark or indicate by a rebus.
   • 1655, Thomas Fuller, Church-History of Britain

     He [John Morton] had a fair library rebussed with More in text and Tun under it.

Anagrams

• Burse, Reubs, Suber, Ubers, buers, bures, burse, erubs, resub, rubes, suber, urbes

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Crimean Tatar

Etymology

French rébus, from Latin rebus.

Noun

rebus

1. rebus.

Declension

Declension of rebus

nominative	rebus
genitive	rebusnıñ
dative	rebusqa
accusative	rebusnı
locative	rebusta
ablative	rebustan

References

• Mirjejev, V. A.; Usejinov, S. M. (2002) Ukrajinsʹko-krymsʹkotatarsʹkyj slovnyk [Ukrainian – Crimean Tatar Dictionary]‎^[1], Simferopol: Dolya, →ISBN

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Danish

Noun

rebus c (singular definite rebussen, plural indefinite rebusser)

1. rebus (puzzle)

Declension

Declension of rebus

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	rebus	rebussen	rebusser	rebusserne
genitive	rebus'	rebussens	rebussers	rebussernes

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Estonian

Noun

rebus

1. inessive singular of rebu

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French

Verb

rebus

1. first-person singular past historic of reboire
2. second-person singular past historic of reboire

Participle

rebus

1. masculine plural of the past participle of reboire

Anagrams

• beurs

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Italian

Noun

rebus m (invariable)

1. rebus
2. enigma
3. puzzle
4. conundrum

Related terms

• rebussistico

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Latin

Noun

rēbus

1. dative plural of rēs
2. ablative plural of rēs

References

• rebus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)

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Malay

Adjective

rebus (Jawi spelling ربوس‎, plural rebus-rebus)

1. boiled (food)

Verb

rebus

1. to boil (food)

Further reading

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

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Polish

Etymology

From French rébus, from Latin rebus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈrɛ.bus/

Noun

rebus m inan

1. rebus

Declension

declension of rebus

	singular	plural
nominative	rebus	rebusy
genitive	rebusu	rebusów
dative	rebusowi	rebusom
accusative	rebus	rebusy
instrumental	rebusem	rebusami
locative	rebusie	rebusach
vocative	rebusie	rebusy

Derived terms

• (adjective) rebusowy

Further reading

• rebus in Polish dictionaries at PWN

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Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /rěːbus/
• Hyphenation: re‧bus

Noun

rébus m (Cyrillic spelling ре́бус)

1. rebus

Declension

Declension of rebus

	singular	plural
nominative	rebus	rebusi
genitive	rebusa	rebusa
dative	rebusu	rebusima
accusative	rebus	rebuse
vocative	rebuse	rebusi
locative	rebusu	rebusima
instrumental	rebusom	rebusima

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Swedish

Noun

rebus c

1. a rebus; a kind of word puzzle

Declension

Declension of rebus
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	rebus	rebusen	rebusar	rebusarna
Genitive	rebus	rebusens	rebusars	rebusarnas

Synonyms

• bildgåta

Related terms

• rebuslösning

References

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