building block vs cube

building block

noun
  • A block made of wood or plastic that is used as a children's toy and can be stacked or joined to form a larger structure. 

  • A component that is part of a larger system. 

  • A component that is part of a larger construction, such as a brick or a stone. 

cube

noun
  • Any object more or less in the form of a cube. 

  • A regular polyhedron having six identical square faces. 

  • A cubicle, especially one of those found in offices. 

  • A data structure consisting of a three-dimensional array; a data cube 

  • The third power of a number, value, term or expression. 

  • A Rubik's cube style puzzle, not necessarily in the shape of a cube 

verb
  • To raise to the third power; to determine the result of multiplying by itself twice. 

  • To use a Rubik's cube. 

  • To form into the shape of a cube. 

  • To cut into cubes. 

How often have the words building block and cube occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )