What does cubed mean?
Cubed is the past tense and past participle of the verb cube, meaning to cut something—most often food—into small, roughly square pieces, or to raise a number to its third power by multiplying it by itself twice. In the kitchen, cubed ingredients like butter, cheese, chicken, or vegetables appear constantly in recipes, lending the word a familiar, practical feel; in mathematics, cubing is a fundamental operation, as when 3 cubed equals 27. The term derives from the noun cube, which entered English from Latin cubus and ultimately Greek kybos, meaning a die or three-dimensional solid. Whether describing a neatly chopped potato or an exponential calculation, cubed conveys precision, uniformity, and structure, making it a versatile word bridging everyday cooking and formal geometry.
Cut or divided into small, cube-shaped pieces, especially referring to food such as meat, cheese, or vegetables.
"The chef cubed the watermelon for the summer salad."
Describing something that has been shaped or cut into cubes, particularly in culinary contexts.
"Add the cubed potatoes to the boiling broth."
Raised to the third power; multiplied by itself twice in arithmetic.
"Two cubed equals eight."
In math, to 'cube' a number is to multiply it by itself twice more — so 3 cubed is 27, which is why we say numbers are raised to the third power.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of cubed
Cubed comes from the verb cube, which English borrowed from Old French 'cuber' and Latin 'cubare'/'cubus'; the geometric sense traces back through Latin cubus to Greek kybos, meaning a die or cube-shaped object. The mathematical sense of raising a number to the third power developed from the analogy between multiplying side lengths and forming a solid cube. Cognates include cubic, cuboid, and cubical, all sharing the same root.
Related word forms
How cubed is actually used
Most commonly encountered in cooking contexts ('cubed butter,' 'cubed steak') and in mathematics for exponentiation.
Easily confused with cubed
'Diced' typically means cutting into smaller, more uniform squares than 'cubed,' which implies larger, roughly cubic pieces.