Garbage, Rubbish, or Trash??

Garbage? Rubbish? Trash? What’s the difference?
 
Garbage
 
The origins of the word garbage are unknown. When the word came to English in the 1580s garbage meant giblets, refuse of a fowl, or waste parts of an animal used for food. Garbage, meaning worthless, offensive stuff, is from the 1590s.
 
The sense of garbage as waste material is related to the verb ‘to garble’ which originally meant to sift refuse material from spices. Garble is related to Latin cribellum (sieve) and Arabic gharbal, Italian garbellare, and French garbeler (all meaning to sift)
 
Garbage collector is from 1872. Garbage can is from 1901. Garbologist is from 1965. Garbology, the study of waste as a social science, is from 1976.
 
Rubbish
 
The origins of the word rubbish are also unknown. The word came to English as robous around 1400, perhaps related to the word rubble (rough irregular stones broken from larger masses; e.g., the rubble of a building after an earthquake or a war). The word rubble appears in the late 1300s. The word rubbish is from the late 15th century.
 
Trash
 
The origins of the word trash are unknown. The word trash (a thing of little use or value, waste, refuse, dross) came to English in the late 14th century perhaps from Old Norse tros (rubbish, fallen leaves and twigs) or Swedish trasa (rages, tatters).
 
Trash, meaning an ill-bred person, is from Shakespeare’s Othello (1604). Trash, used in the southern US to describe poor whites; i.e., ‘white trash’, appears in 1831. Trash meaning domestic refuse or garbage is American English is from 1906. Trash can is from 1914. To trash something meaning to discard it as worthless is from 1859. Trash meaning to destroy or vandalize is from 1970. Trash-talk is from 1989.
 
In sum….
 
All three words are now used synonymously. Generally speaking, the British tend to use rubbish whereas Americans tend to use garbage or trash. Garbage usually refers to food waste. Rubbish and trash refer to other waste materials. Rubbish and trash are also used disparagingly to refer to speech which is nonsense or perceived as incorrect. Trash is also used disparagingly in relation to people.
 
Reference: Online Etymological Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/
​