Burn or burnt?
burnt is the simple past and past participle of burn. burn is also a noun: “A physical injury caused by heat, cold, electricity, radiation or caustic…”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) burn is about 3.2 times as common as burnt.
What is the difference between burn and burnt?
| burn | burnt | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | adjective, noun, verb |
| Meaning | To be consumed by fire or in flames To contain a fire or coals A physical injury caused by heat, cold, electricity, radiation or caustic chemicals A mark left behind by a burn; a scorch or scar caused by a burn | simple past and past participle of burn Damaged or injured by fire or heat Carbonised informalChar |
| Example | She had second-degree burns from falling in the bonfire | The toast was too burnt to eat |
| Forms | burns, burning, burned, burnt | none |
| Pronunciation | /bɜːn/ /bɔːn/ /bɝn/ | /bɜːnt/ /bɝnt/ /bɔːnt/ |
| In writing | 34 times per million words | 11 times per million words |
Sources: burn and burnt in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of burn and burnt
burn
- 1
A physical injury caused by heat, cold, electricity, radiation or caustic chemicals
She had second-degree burns from falling in the bonfire
- 2
To be consumed by fire or in flames
He watched the house burn
- 3
ScotlandA large stream
- 4
A mark left behind by a burn; a scorch or scar caused by a burn
Cut the cigarette burn out from the fabric
- 5
To contain a fire or coals
The wood stove was burning, giving off plenty of heat
- 6
An abrasion resembling a burn
carpet burn, rope burn, rug burn, turf burn
- 7
To become overheated to the point of being unusable; to become scorched
The grill was too hot and the steak burned
- 8
A disease in vegetables, which causes discoloration that looks like a burn
burnt
- 1
Damaged or injured by fire or heat
- 2
informalChar
- 3
Carbonised
The toast was too burnt to eat
- 4
Having a sunburn
- 5
Being darker than standard, especially browner
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, burn or burnt?
burn appears 34 times per million words; burnt 11 times per million words.
burn 34 times per million wordsburnt 11 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).