Cubicle meaning: a desk walled in by low partitions
A cubicle is a small work space inside a larger office, walled off by low partitions. It's usually one of a row of identical ones. The word also covers any small screened-off space, like a shower or changing cubicle.
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My new cubicle has a filing cabinet, a dying plant and a view of the printer.
What did they mean?
Filed under C jargon.
What a cubicle is
Cubicle meaning at work
At work, a cubicle is a desk for one person, boxed in by low partition walls. They usually come in rows that all look alike, and a whole floor of them is called a cubicle farm.
Cubicle meaning outside the office
Outside the office, a cubicle is any small space screened off from a larger room, such as a changing or shower cubicle. In British English, it can also be a stall for one cow in a barn.
From bedchamber to Action Office
A word that meant bedroom
Cubicle comes from the Latin cubiculum, a bedroom. The root is cubare, to lie down. No other word in our corporate jargon dictionary has traveled as far. It went from the room where you sleep to the desk where you try not to.
| When | What cubicle meant in English |
|---|---|
| Mid-1400s | A bedchamber |
| 1500s | Nothing. It dropped out of use |
| By 1858 | A sleeping compartment in a school dormitory |
| By 1926 | Any partitioned space, which is where the office meaning comes from |
Action Office, 1968
The office cubicle grew out of Action Office, a modular open-plan system designed by Robert Propst. He studied office work in the early 1960s, and Herman Miller launched his system in 1968.
Other office furniture makers copied it. As the story is usually told, those copies stiffened into fixed rows.
Life in a cubicle
Cubicle etiquette
Cubicle etiquette is about the noise, smells and clutter that low walls don’t keep in.
- Knock on the partition before you talk.
- Take speakerphone calls in a meeting room.
- Eat strong-smelling lunches away from your desk.
- Keep decorations inside your own panels.
Cube, pod, bay and booth
Cube, pod, bay and booth are the other words you’ll hear for where people sit in an office.
| Word | What it is |
|---|---|
| Cubicle, or cube | One desk with low panels around it |
| Pod | A cluster of desks facing each other, often for one team |
| Bay | A row or block of desks on an open floor |
| Booth | A small enclosed box where one person takes a call |
| Private office | Four walls, a door and usually a title to go with it |
The cubicle and the open plan
Plenty of offices have swapped cubicles for open benches or hot desking. In 2024, only 40% of companies across the Americas still had a desk for every worker. A year earlier, it was 56%.
Your work wife used to sit on the other side of the partition. Now you have to book the desk next to hers by 9 am.
A chat message with cubicle in it
Direct message, Thursday 2:14 pm
Come by my
cubicledesk when your 2:00 ends, row F by the windows. Bring the laptop with the Q3 slides. Ignore the sign on the partition, the plant is not available for meetings.
The cubicle as a symbol
For a long time, the cubicle stood for office life in corporate America. It was the gray backdrop of a hundred films and comic strips. The office siren look on TikTok borrows the clothes of that era and leaves the panels behind.
Low walls are also why looking busy at work became a skill, since anyone walking past can see your screen.
Cubicle in a sentence
My new cubicle has a filing cabinet, a dying plant and a view of the printer.
The cubicle rows are coming out next month, Agnes. We're going open plan.
I came into the office to sit in a cubicle and join video calls with people at home.
Someone took a sales call from the end cubicle in the washroom, Rasmus, and the client heard the flush.
Questions about cubicles
What does "cubicle" mean in English?
A small space with walls or curtains around it, separate from the rest of a room. In an office, it's a work space made by putting up low walls in a larger room. Elsewhere, it can be a shower, toilet or changing cubicle.
What is the etymology of the word "cubicle"?
Latin cubiculum, meaning bedroom, built on cubare, to lie down. In English it meant a bedchamber from the mid-1400s. Then it fell out of use, and by 1858 it was back as a sleeping compartment in a dormitory.
What is the difference between "cubical" and "cubicle"?
Cubicle is the noun for the partitioned space, and cubical is an adjective meaning shaped like a cube. Writing "my cubical" for your desk is a common slip.
Who invented the office cubicle?
It happened in stages. Robert Propst designed Action Office, a modular office system that Herman Miller launched in 1968. The usual story is that competitors copied it, and their copies hardened into cubicles.
Are cubicle jobs still a thing?
Yes, but fewer desks come with your name on them. In 2024, 40% of companies in the Americas had a desk for every employee, down from 56% the year before. At the rest, some staff share desks.