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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

bun.

Senses referring to baked goods.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/bʌn/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/bɐn/Australia, New-Zealand/bən/Wales/bʊn/Ireland, Northern-England
  1. Senses referring to baked goods. A small bread roll that is sweetened or spiced.

  2. Senses referring to baked goods. A bread roll that is served with a savoury filling such as a hamburger or hot dog.

  3. Senses referring to baked goods. Any bread roll.

    Northern-England · Northumbria · especially
  4. Senses referring to baked goods. A cupcake.

    Ireland · Northern-England
  5. A roll of hair worn at the back of the head.

    loose bun;   messy bun;   tight bun
  6. A drunken spree.

    UK · slang
  7. A newbie.

    Internet
  8. A young girl or woman.

    slang
  9. A buttock.

    Canada · US · in-plural · slang
    nice buns;   tight buns
  10. The vagina.

    slang
Where this word comes from

From Middle English bunne (“wheat cake, bun”), from Anglo-Norman bugne (“bump on the head; fritter”), from Old French bugne (hence French beignet), from Frankish *bungjo (“little clump”), diminutive of *bungu (“lump, clump”), from Proto-Germanic *bungô, *bunkô (“clump, lump, heap, crowd”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰenǵʰ- (“thick, dense, fat”). Cognate with Dutch bonk (“clump, clot, cluster of fruits”). More at bunch.

verb/bʌn/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/bɐn/Australia, New-Zealand/bən/Wales/bʊn/Ireland, Northern-England
  1. To form (the hair) into a bun.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English bunne (“wheat cake, bun”), from Anglo-Norman bugne (“bump on the head; fritter”), from Old French bugne (hence French beignet), from Frankish *bungjo (“little clump”), diminutive of *bungu (“lump, clump”), from Proto-Germanic *bungô, *bunkô (“clump, lump, heap, crowd”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰenǵʰ- (“thick, dense, fat”). Cognate with Dutch bonk (“clump, clot, cluster of fruits”). More at bunch.

noun/bʌn/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/bɐn/Australia, New-Zealand/bən/Wales/bʊn/Ireland, Northern-England
  1. Clipping of bunny (“rabbit”).

    abbreviation · alt-of · childish · clipping · colloquial
    She brought home two new buns to join the menagerie!
  2. A bunny: a rabbit.

    archaic · dialectal
  3. A squirrel.

    archaic · dialectal
  4. The scut or tail of a hare.

    archaic · dialectal
  5. A dry stalk.

    archaic · dialectal
Where this word comes from

Probably from Scots bun (“tail of a rabbit or hare”), which is probably from Scottish Gaelic bun (“bottom, butt, stump, stub”).

verb/bʌn/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/bɐn/Australia, New-Zealand/bən/Wales/bʊn/Ireland, Northern-England
  1. To smoke cannabis.

    Caribbean · slang
  2. To shoot.

    Multicultural-London-English · slang
  3. To forget.

    Multicultural-London-English · slang
Where this word comes from

Caribbean pronunciation of burn.

noun/bʌn/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/bɐn/Australia, New-Zealand/bən/Wales/bʊn/Ireland, Northern-England
  1. marijuana cigarette, joint

    Caribbean · Multicultural-London-English · slang
Where this word comes from

Caribbean pronunciation of burn.

noun/bʌn/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/bɐn/Australia, New-Zealand/bən/Wales/bʊn/Ireland, Northern-England
  1. A Korean unit of length equivalent to about 0.3 cm.

Where this word comes from

From the Revised Romanization of Korean 분 (bun), from Chinese 分 (fèn, “fen”). Doublet of fen.

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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.