overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

bulk.

Size, specifically, volume.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/bʌlk//bʊlk/Northern-England
  1. Size, specifically, volume.

    countable · uncountable
  2. Any huge body or structure.

    countable · uncountable
    The obese woman couldn't ease her bulk through the narrow passageway.
  3. The major part of something.

    countable · uncountable
  4. The major part of something. Majority, balance.

    countable · uncountable
    The bulk of my income comes from my office job, but I also teach a couple of evening classes.
    The bulk of the criticisms were invalid.
  5. The major part of something. Gist.

    countable · uncountable
    I understood the bulk of what you were saying, just one of two points I need to hear again.
  6. Dietary fibre.

    countable · uncountable
  7. Unpackaged goods when transported in large volumes, e.g. coal, ore, or grain.

    uncountable
  8. A cargo or any items moved or communicated in the manner of cargo.

    countable
  9. Excess body mass, especially muscle.

    countable · uncountable
  10. A period where one tries to gain muscle.

    countable · uncountable
  11. A hypothetical higher-dimensional space within which our own four-dimensional universe may exist.

    countable · uncountable
  12. The body.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English bulk, bolke (“a heap, cargo, hold; heap; bulge”), borrowed from Old Norse búlki (“the freight or the cargo of a ship”), from Proto-Germanic *bulkô (“beam, pile, heap”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵ- (“beam, pile, prop”). Compare Icelandic búlkast (“to be bulky”), Swedish dialectal bulk (“a bunch”), Danish bulk (“bump, knob”). Conflated with Middle English bouk (“belly, trunk”).

adj/bʌlk//bʊlk/Northern-England
  1. Being large in size, mass, or volume (of goods, etc.).

    not-comparable
  2. Total.

    not-comparable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English bulk, bolke (“a heap, cargo, hold; heap; bulge”), borrowed from Old Norse búlki (“the freight or the cargo of a ship”), from Proto-Germanic *bulkô (“beam, pile, heap”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵ- (“beam, pile, prop”). Compare Icelandic búlkast (“to be bulky”), Swedish dialectal bulk (“a bunch”), Danish bulk (“bump, knob”). Conflated with Middle English bouk (“belly, trunk”).

verb/bʌlk//bʊlk/Northern-England
  1. To appear or seem to be, as to bulk or extent.

    intransitive
  2. To grow in size; to swell or expand.

    intransitive
  3. To gain body mass by means of diet, exercise, etc.

    intransitive
  4. To put or hold in bulk.

    transitive
  5. To add bulk to; to bulk out.

    obsolete · transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English bulk, bolke (“a heap, cargo, hold; heap; bulge”), borrowed from Old Norse búlki (“the freight or the cargo of a ship”), from Proto-Germanic *bulkô (“beam, pile, heap”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵ- (“beam, pile, prop”). Compare Icelandic búlkast (“to be bulky”), Swedish dialectal bulk (“a bunch”), Danish bulk (“bump, knob”). Conflated with Middle English bouk (“belly, trunk”).

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

bulk has 4 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

bulk studiobulk workshello, bulk

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.