bubă

Unknown. Possibly a substrate word, perhaps from or related to Ruthenian or Ukrainian буба (buba, “swelling”) (cf. Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian буба (buba, “insect pupa, bug, silkworm”), also Albanian bubë), or alternatively from a Vulgar Latin *buba from Late Latin būbō, būbōnēs, from Ancient Greek βουβών (boubṓn), which would make it a doublet of bubon. It may more likely be simply an expressive creation, similar to words in other languages with the same senses. Compare also Galician bouba (“blister”), French bube, Spanish buba, búa (“pustule, blister, swelling, scab, tumor”).

bubă f (plural bube)

1. swelling, bump
2. abscess, boil, lesion

   Synonyms: furuncul, abces, buboi

3. (figuratively) a minor wound or injury, such as a cut

• coptură
• plagă
• rană

• Paliga, Sorin (2024) An Etymological Dictionary of the Romanian Language, New York: Peter Lang, →ISBN, page 202