rebus

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.

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: rē'bəs, IPA^(key): /ˈɹiːbəs/

• Audio (Received Pronunciation):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɹibəs/
• Rhymes: -iːbəs
• Hyphenation: re‧bus

Examples (phonetic hint)
銅 (OC *doːŋ) is made of 金 +‎ 同 (*doːŋ); 同 is the rebus. 疏 (OC *sŋra, *sŋras) is rebus 疋 (*ŋraːʔ, *sŋra, *sŋraʔ) +‎ 㐬.

rebus (plural rebuses or (rare) rebusses or (hypercorrect, rare) rebi)

1. 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—

2. (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

3. (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.

4. (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

• rebus principle

• visual pun

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)

1. To represent (a phrase or word) as a rebus.
2. 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.

• rebus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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

French rébus, from Latin rebus.

rebus

1. rebus.

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

rebus c (singular definite rebussen, plural indefinite rebusser)

1. rebus (puzzle)

rebus

1. inessive singular of rebu

rebus

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

rebus m pl

1. masculine plural of rebu

• beurs

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

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /rəˈbus/ [rəˈbʊs]
• Rhymes: -us
• Syllabification: re‧bus

rêbus (active merebus, passive direbus)

1. (transitive) to boil (to cook in boiling water)

rêbus

1. (fully attributive) boiled (cooked in boiling water)

• IPA^(key): /ˈrɛ.bus/
• Rhymes: -ɛbus
• Hyphenation: rè‧bus

rebus m (invariable)

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

• rebussistico

rēbus f

1. dative/ablative plural of rēs (“object, thing, matter”)

• "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)

rebus (Jawi spelling ربوس)

1. boiled (food)

rebus

1. to boil (food)

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

Borrowed from Italian rebus, from Latin rēbus.

• IPA^(key): /ˈrɛː.bus/

rebus m (plural rebus)

1. mess, clutter

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈrɛ.bus/
• Rhymes: -ɛbus
• Syllabification: re‧bus

rebus m inan (diminutive rebusik)

1. rebus (puzzle)

• 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

Borrowed from French rébus.

rebus n (plural rebusuri)

1. rebus, crossword

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

rébus m inan (Cyrillic spelling ре́бус)

1. rebus

rebus c

1. a rebus; a kind of word puzzle

• bildgåta

• rebuslösning

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