My favorite television cook used the word cupboard today, and that got me thinking about a couple of things:

1.) is there a difference between a cupboard and a cabinet;

2.) she pronounced it cubberd, as I guess most people do, which reminded me of clapboard which is pronouced here as clabberd (not to be confused with clabbered, as with milk);

3.) how did board come into both of these uses? I presume cupboard originated from being near the board, or table, but I don't really know this, let alone the clapboard connection (if there is one).

1) I think that cupboard and cabinet are nearly interchangeable, certainly in kitchen use; Otherwise, a cabinet might tend to be a bit fancier, perhaps more for display purposes than simple storage.

2) The pronunciations I use are cubberd and clabberd, although CLAP-board is not unknown. I've never heard CUP-board except humorously.

3) I believe that the board in cupboard is a shelf on which cups are set or stored; clapboard is overlapping wooden siding for a building, so, again, it's literally a board.

Peter

I use cabinet, seldom cupboard, except when trying to be very
specific about something to someone.

I hadn't considered this before now, but I seem to use cupboard for the shelving in our pantry, which look very much like our kitchen cabinets.

clapboard is overlapping wooden siding for a building, so, again, it's literally a board. Hey--so named, perhaps, because you grab each board and clap it up against the house?

Merriam-Webster:
Partial translation of Dutch klaphout : klappen, to split, crack + Middle Dutch holt, board

Oxford Dictionaries:
early 16th century (denoting a piece of oak used for barrel staves or wainscot): partial translation of Low German klappholt 'barrel stave', from klappen 'to crack' + holt 'wood'

But yeah, Jackie, I think you're right.

Asking some people here whom I know, they seem to see a
cupboard as a free-standing piece of furniture with doors,
either wooden or glass. A cabinet seems to be used for an enclosed
place for dishes and the like, attached to a wall. This is just
the opinions I've found in this part of the world.

Hmmm. These words are used differently here in Québec, L.J.

A cabinet is either;

1) a free-standing movable piece of furniture with drawers or compartments used for storage of household things - usually things important to you.
2) as you mention, storage compartments attached to the wall in the kitchen for placing dishes.
3) a doctor or lawyer's office
4) the group of ministers in the parliament.
(in French it is also used to mean the toilet room)

And a cupboard is always a storage space with a door, the size of a closet with shelves to store kitchen stuff (non-perishable foods, pots and pans, etc.) I've never seen cups in a cupboard. Those are always in the cabinets.

I pretty much see the same as you.

Interesting. I have just realized that if I am talking about the installed structures, whether they be on a wall or under a counter, they are cabinets, but if I refer to them as storage spaces they are cupboards. My kitchen has brown cabinets, but the dishes are in the cupboard over the microwave. Otherwise, a cabinet is a free-standing piece of furniture with doors. It may have drawers as well, but if it has only drawers it's not a cabinet. A closet-like small room is always a closet, unless it's it's a pantry, which need not be small. I've never known such a room as a cupboard. I need to ask some friends about their usage.

Pantry??

Basically a kitchen storage room. I assume the pan- is from Latin bread, so it probably started as bread storage. I don't have one, but my grandmother's house had a large pantry which housed flour, sugar, bread, pickles, jams and jellies, etc., as well as dishes. The dish cupboards could be opened either from the pantry or the kitchen. The pantry also offered ready access to the root cellar.

Peter

I'm with bel and Peter.

Dutch klaphout : klappen, to split, crack Oh, it's Branny's fault, then!
Seriously--klappen seems like it could have been onomatopoeic; wood splits with a sharp sound, a clap or a crack.

I assume the pan- is from Latin bread

Good guess. Middle English pantrie < Old French paneterie 'bread-closet' < panetier 'pantry servant' < pan 'bread' < Latin pānis. It's marvelous how words evolve: for instance butler from bottler.

I'm not sure that I would have guessed that, although it seems obvious enough; I think I knew it somewhen, but had forgotten.

And bottler, not in the sense of somebody who puts beverages in bottles, but as in the guy with the keys to the cave who's in charge of all those bottles. OTOH, janitor, means the guy in charge of the door (or keys thereof) < Latin janua 'door, house door; entrance'.

YES...all interesting Zm

I once made the mistake of telling my son, that the pepper grinder was in the 'compliments' cupboard instead of the condiments cupboard and now its a family joke when ever someone goes to get something out of that cupboard, to utter a string of flattering words, when the door is opened!

And in houses of the aristocracy, especially in Britain, did not
the butler keep the bottles to be served in a small closet
somewhere near the green door?

My family functions on the dark side of this. My wife, who rarely watches movies, once responded to a passing remark about Pulp Fiction in a way that made it clear that she thought we were talking about Newsies. I and our three offspring were helpless with laughter. Now the poor woman can't say anything about any movie without being hit with: "You mean Newsies?" In January I showed up at my daughter's house to stay with my infant grandson for a couple of hours, and made the mistake of announcing myself with, "Nanny Peter is here!" I'm rather afraid that the baby will learn to call me that, because his mother thinks it very clever to remind me of my ill-advised usage.

I'd be honored to be called Nanny, if I had grandchildren.
Anything but Nanny McPhee.