bounce
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
6 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "bounce", 6-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "bounce" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "bounce" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
bounce is aEnglishverb. It means: To change the direction of motion after hitting an obstacle. Pronounced /baʊns/. It ranks #6,873 in English word frequency. Often confused with bunch and bound.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bounce |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /baʊns/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #6,873 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for bounce is 6 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /baʊns/. Corpus data places it at rank #6,873 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 22 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 8 documented wrong-spelling variants for bounce, with forms such as "bbounce", "bonuce", and "boucne". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "bunch", "bound", "Bruce", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English bounsen, bunsen (“to beat, thump”), cognate with Scots bunce, bonce (“to bounce”). Of uncertain origin. Perhaps imitative, related to bump, or related to Middle English bonchen (“to pound, beat”) and Dutch bonken (“to bump”). Compare Sat… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is bounce, spelled B-O-U-N-C-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1To change the direction of motion after hitting an obstacle.
- 2To move quickly up and then down (or vice versa), once or repeatedly.
- 3To cause to move quickly up and down, or back and forth, once or repeatedly.
- 4To suggest or introduce (an idea, etc.) to (off or by) someone, in order to gain feedback.
- 5To leap or spring suddenly or unceremoniously; to bound.
- 6To move rapidly (between).
- 7To be refused by a bank because it is drawn on insufficient funds.
- 8To fail to cover (have sufficient funds for) (a cheque/check drawn on one's account).
- 9To leave.
- 10To eject violently, as from a room; to discharge unceremoniously, as from employment.
- 11To have sexual intercourse.
- 12To attack unexpectedly.
- 13To turn power to (a device) off and back on; to reset; to reboot.
- 14To return undelivered.
- 15To land hard and lift off again due to excess momentum.
- 16To land hard at unsurvivable velocity with fatal results.
- 17To mix (two or more tracks of a multi-track audio recording) and record the result onto a single track, in order to free up tracks for further material to be added.
- 18To render two or more tracks to computer storage so that they can be played back and re-recorded with further material added.
- 19To bully; to scold.
- 20To boast; to bluster.
- 21To strike or thump, so as to make a sudden noise upon rebound; to knock loudly.
- 22To race poorly after a successful race.
Etymology
From Middle English bounsen, bunsen (“to beat, thump”), cognate with Scots bunce, bonce (“to bounce”). Of uncertain origin. Perhaps imitative, related to bump, or related to Middle English bonchen (“to pound, beat”) and Dutch bonken (“to bump”). Compare Saterland Frisian bumzje (“to pound, bang, bounce”), West Frisian bûnzje (“to throb, bounce, pulsate”), Dutch bonzen (“to thump, knock, throb, bounce”), German Low German bunsen, bumsen (“to beat, bounce”), German bumsen (“to thud, bang, pound”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bbounce,bonuce,boucne,bouncce,bounec,bounnce,buonce,obunce
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for bounce
Misspelling Variants of "bounce"
Frequency rank: #6,873 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter B in our English index: