What does blub mean?
To blub is to cry noisily and without restraint — to weep with gulping sobs that are impossible to hide. The word is informal and chiefly British, though understood throughout the English-speaking world, and it typically carries a gently mocking or affectionate tone: one might accuse a friend of blubbing at a wedding or a tearjerker film, but the word sits uneasily alongside genuine tragedy. It functions primarily as a verb ('she blubbed for hours'), with the inflected forms 'blubbing' and 'blubbed', and occasionally appears as an informal noun in phrases like 'have a good blub'. The word is onomatopoeic in origin, its short, plosive sound imitating the gulping rhythm of heavy crying, which makes it unusually vivid among English terms for weeping. Related to the fuller verb 'blubber', it belongs to a small family of words whose very shape enacts the emotion they describe.
To cry noisily and uncontrollably; to weep in an unrestrained manner.
"The toddler blubbed the entire car journey."
Informal; often used teasingly.
(Informal) An act or spell of noisy crying.
"Don't mind her — she just needs to have a blub."
Chiefly British; usually in the phrase 'have a blub'.
Rarely used; the noun form most often appears in singular set phrases such as 'have a blub'.
"She's been having blubs all afternoon over that novel."
'Blub' is pure onomatopoeia — the word itself sounds exactly like what it describes: someone gulping and gasping through tears.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of blub
'Blub' arose as an imitative or onomatopoeic formation, first attested in the early seventeenth century, coined to mimic the sound of noisy, gulping weeping. It was later extended to the longer form 'blubber', which carries both the sense of messy crying and, separately, the fat of whales — the two senses of 'blubber' developing from the same expressive root. The word has remained colloquial throughout its history, never rising into formal register.
Related word forms
How blub is actually used
'Blub' is distinctly informal and often carries a mildly teasing or affectionate connotation, especially in British English. It suggests undignified rather than dignified grief — you might blub over a film or a lost football match, but the word would rarely appear in solemn or formal writing about mourning.
Easily confused with blub
'Blubber' means to cry messily and can also refer to whale fat, while 'blub' is the shorter, lighter term for noisy weeping.