Meaning

noun an awkward and inexperienced youth

noun a male child (a familiar term of address to a boy)

noun the young of certain carnivorous mammals such as the bear or wolf or lion

originFrom earlier cubbe. Origin unknown. According to Pokorny, from Proto-Germanic *kubb-, from Proto-Indo-European *gup- (“round object, knoll”), from *gew- (“to bend, curve, arch, vault”). Compare Icelandic and Old Norse kobbi (“seal”), Old Irish cuib (“whelp”). Compare also English cob. Originally, the meaning was specifically "young fox", in which sense it has largely replaced English whelp.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0