No one has pronounced the p in cupboard since the sixteenth century, which slightly obscures the fact that in origin the word is actually cup board, a board for cups. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, this origin was in fact even harder to see, as common spellings of the word ranged from cubberd to cobord and even to cowbard. Rational eighteenth-century scholars eventually set things right, however, by insisting that the word be spelt, if not pronounced, cup-board. The word first appeared in English at the beginning of the fourteenth century, when it meant a table or shelf upon which cups and plates were put for display. It was not until the early sixteenth century that the word acquired its current meaning of a closed cabinet where cups are stored out of sight and out of harm until needed.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
No one has pronounced the p in cupboard since the sixteenth century, which slightly obscures the fact that in origin the word is actually cup board, a board for cups. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, this origin was in fact even harder to see, as common spellings of the word ranged from cubberd to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-c"],"yoast_head":"\n