# buck

> English word · Noun · IPA /bʌk/ · frequency rank #6,994

## Definitions
1. A male deer, antelope, sheep, goat, rabbit, hare, and sometimes the male of other animals such as the hamster, ferret, salmonid, shad and kangaroo.
2. An uncastrated sheep, a ram.
3. An antelope of either sex; compare with Afrikaans bok.
4. The sound made by a chicken.
5. A young buck; an adventurous, impetuous, dashing, or high-spirited young man.
6. A fop or dandy.
7. A black or Native American man.
8. An Aboriginal man.
9. Lowest rank; a private.
10. A unit of a particular currency
11. A unit of a particular currency
12. A unit of a particular currency
13. A unit of a particular currency
14. A unit of a particular currency
15. A unit of a particular currency
16. One hundred.
17. Clipping of buckshot.
18. An implement the body of which is likened to a male sheep’s body due maintaining a stiff-legged position as if by stubbornness.
19. An implement the body of which is likened to a male sheep’s body due maintaining a stiff-legged position as if by stubbornness.
20. An implement the body of which is likened to a male sheep’s body due maintaining a stiff-legged position as if by stubbornness.
21. An implement the body of which is likened to a male sheep’s body due maintaining a stiff-legged position as if by stubbornness.
22. An implement the body of which is likened to a male sheep’s body due maintaining a stiff-legged position as if by stubbornness.
23. An implement the body of which is likened to a male sheep’s body due maintaining a stiff-legged position as if by stubbornness.
24. Synonym of buck dance.
25. Synonym of mule (“type of cocktail with ginger ale etc.”).
26. A kind of large marble in children's games.
27. An unlicensed cabman.

## Etymology
From Middle English bukke, bucke, buc, from Old English buc, bucc, bucca (“he-goat, stag”), from Proto-West Germanic *bukk, *bukkō, from Proto-Germanic *bukkaz, *bukkô (“buck”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuǵ- (“ram”). Doublet of puck (“billy goat”).
Currency-related senses hail from American English, a clipping of buckskin as a unit of trade among Indians and Europeans in frontier days (attested from 1748).
The idea of rigidly standing implements is instilled by Dutch bok (“sawhorse”) as in zaagbok (“sawbuck”).
The sense of an object indicating someone’s turn then occurred in American English, possibly originating from the game poker, where a knife (typically with a hilt made from a stag horn) was used as a place-marker to signify whose turn it was to deal. The place-marker was commonly referred to as a buck, which reinforced the term “pass the buck” used in poker, and eventually a silver dollar was used in place of a knife, which also led to a dollar being referred to as a buck.

## Easily confused with
- **but** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buck-vs-but)
- **buy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buck-vs-buy)
- **bus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buck-vs-bus)
- **bug** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buck-vs-bug)
- **bud** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buck-vs-bud)
- **bum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buck-vs-bum)
- **bun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buck-vs-bun)
- **bur** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buck-vs-bur)
- **Bui** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buck-vs-bui)
- **busy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buck-vs-busy)
- **burn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buck-vs-burn)
- **bush** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buck-vs-bush)
- **bull** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buck-vs-bull)
- **butt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buck-vs-butt)
- **bulk** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buck-vs-bulk)
- **buzz** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buck-vs-buzz)
- **bugs** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buck-vs-bugs)
- **bust** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buck-vs-bust)
- **bump** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buck-vs-bump)
- **buys** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buck-vs-buys)

## Common misspellings (6)
`bbuck`, `bcuk`, `bucck`, `buckk`, `bukc`, `ubck`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/buck