Editing Cubicle (section)

== Etymology ==
The term cubicle comes from the [[Latin]] ''cubiculum'', for bed chamber. It was used in English as early as the 15th century. It eventually{{When|date=April 2022}} came to be used for small chambers of all sorts, and for small rooms or study spaces with partitions which do not reach to the ceiling. Like the older [[carrel desk]], a cubicle seeks to give a degree of [[privacy]] to the user while taking up minimal space in a large or medium-sized room. 

A satirical [[joke]] in the 1870 edition of [[Punch (magazine)|''Punch, or the London Charivari'']] magazine uses "cubicle" in the context of an advertisement for a [[Dormitory|college dormitory]] - "The dormitories separate cubicles." The joke appears to ridicule the overly studious word, asking, "But stay, what ''is'' a cubicle? Did we ever sleep in a cubicle? No; we should as soon have thought of slumber in a [[bicycle]]." The article goes on to explain the Latin origin of the word "cubicle" and its definition.<ref>{{Cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-odEAAAAcAAJ&dq=%22cubicle%22&pg=PA84 |magazine=[[Punch (magazine)|Punch]] |date=1870 |publisher=[[Bradbury and Evans]] |page=84 |language=en |title=A Good Name}}</ref>

In 1879, the word "cubicle" appeared in reference to [[electrical engineering]], referring to what is today known as [[Electrical enclosure|electrical enclosures]] for [[Switchgear|switchgears]] and [[Circuit breaker|circuit breakers]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fxMjAAAAMAAJ&q=%22cubicle%22 |title=Switchgear Principles |date=October 1879 |location=London |publisher=Cleaver-Hume Press |page=184 |language=en}}</ref>[[File:Cubicle-in-urban-high-rise.jpg|thumb|A cubicle in an urban high rise setting]]