Pus or puss?
pus is a noun meaning “A whitish-yellow or yellow substance composed primarily of dead white blood…”; puss is a noun meaning “A cat”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) puss is about as common as pus.
What is the difference between pus and puss?
| pus | puss | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | noun |
| Meaning | A whitish-yellow or yellow substance composed primarily of dead white blood cells and dead pyogenic bacteria, normally found in regions of bacterial infection | informalA cat |
| Example | Pus was seeping out of the wound | Our local theatre is showing Puss in Boots |
| Forms | pura | pusses |
| Pronunciation | /pʌs/ /pʊs/ | /pʊs/ /pʉs/ |
| In writing | 1.0 times per million words | 1.1 times per million words |
Sources: pus and puss 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 pus and puss
pus
- 1
A whitish-yellow or yellow substance composed primarily of dead white blood cells and dead pyogenic bacteria, normally found in regions of bacterial infection
Pus was seeping out of the wound
- 2
UKInitialism of permanent undersecretary
puss
- 1
informalA cat
Our local theatre is showing Puss in Boots
- 2
slangThe mouth
Shut your puss before I shut it for you
- 3
Alternative spelling of pus
It didn't move as much, and the same teary puss leaked from its eyes
- 4
datedA girl or young woman, or any child
- 5
slangThe face
She gave him a slap in the puss
- 6
datedA hare
- 7
slangvulgarThe vulva (female genitalia)
- 8
slangvulgarSex with a woman
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, pus or puss?
pus appears 1.0 times per million words; puss 1.1 times per million words.
pus 1.0 times per million wordspuss 1.1 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search pus vs puss?
“pus vs puss” is searched about 170 times a month on Google and 20 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“puss vs pus”, “pus or puss”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.