# bud

> English word · Noun · IPA /bʌd/ · frequency rank #6,218

## Definitions
1. A newly sprouted leaf or blossom that has not yet unfolded.
2. Something that has begun to develop.
3. A small rounded body in the process of splitting from an organism, which may grow into a genetically identical new organism.
4. Potent cannabis taken from the flowering part of the plant (the "bud"), or marijuana generally.
5. Potent cannabis taken from the flowering part of the plant (the "bud"), or marijuana generally.
6. A weaned calf in its first year, so called because the horns are then beginning to bud.
7. A pretty young girl.

## Etymology
From Middle English budde (“bud, seed pod”), from Proto-Germanic *buddǭ (compare Dutch bot (“bud”), German Hagebutte (“hip, rosehip”), regional German Butzen (“seed pod”), Swedish dialect bodd (“head”)), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew-, *bu- (“to swell”).

## Easily confused with
- **by** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bud-vs-by)
- **BW** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bud-vs-bw)
- **BX** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bud-vs-bx)
- **but** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bud-vs-but)
- **buy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bud-vs-buy)
- **bus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bud-vs-bus)
- **bye** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bud-vs-bye)
- **bug** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bud-vs-bug)
- **bum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bud-vs-bum)
- **bun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bud-vs-bun)
- **BYU** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bud-vs-byu)
- **bur** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bud-vs-bur)
- **Bui** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bud-vs-bui)
- **busy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bud-vs-busy)
- **burn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bud-vs-burn)
- **bush** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bud-vs-bush)
- **bull** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bud-vs-bull)
- **butt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bud-vs-butt)
- **bulk** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bud-vs-bulk)
- **buzz** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bud-vs-buzz)

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