Round and plump in shape, or describing someone who is a bit overweight in a soft or cuddly way.
From 'tub', referring to a round, barrel-like container. The suffix '-y' turns it into an adjective meaning 'like a tub' or 'resembling a tub in shape'.
Tubby was a somewhat affectionate insult in 20th-century slang, rarely meant to be genuinely mean—it sounds almost cute compared to modern insults, reflecting how language softens or hardens over time.
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