bulk
/bʌlk/noun, adjective, verb
bulk is spelled B-U-L-K: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,206th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, bulk means “Size, specifically, volume” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of bulk is bulks.
How many letters and syllables are in bulk?
| Letters | 4: B-U-L-K |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 15 times per million words; the 5,206th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is bulk?
Bulk appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,206th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce bulk?
- /bʌlk/
- /bʊlk/
Bulk has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-bulk.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of bulk
- bulks plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- bulking participle, present
- bulked participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does bulk mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Size, specifically, volume.
- 2
Any huge body or structure.
The obese woman couldn't ease her bulk through the narrow passageway.
- 3
The major part of something.
- 4
Majority, balance.
The bulk of my income comes from my office job, but I also teach a couple of evening classes.
- 5
Gist.
I understood the bulk of what you were saying, just one of two points I need to hear again.
- 6
Dietary fibre.
- 7
Unpackaged goods when transported in large volumes, e.g. coal, ore, or grain.
- 8
A cargo or any items moved or communicated in the manner of cargo.
adjective
- 1
Being large in size, mass, or volume (of goods, etc.).
- 2
Total.
Bulk fermentation
verb
- 1
To appear or seem to be, as to bulk or extent.
- 2
To grow in size; to swell or expand.
- 3
To gain body mass by means of diet, exercise, etc.
- 4
To put or hold in bulk.
- 5
obsoleteTo add bulk to; to bulk out.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Bulk in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | grosseur, masse, volume , gros, ensemble, essentiel |
| Portuguese | volume, quantidade , grosso , granel , em massa |
| Spanish | masa , grueso , bulto, a granel , corpulencia, mole |
| German | Großteil |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does bulk come from?
From Middle English bulk, bolke (“a heap, cargo, hold; heap; bulge”), borrowed from Old Norse búlki (“the freight or the cargo of a ship”), from Proto-Germanic *bulkô (“beam, pile, heap”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵ- (“beam, pile, prop”). Compare Icelandic búlkast (“to be bulky”), Swedish dialectal bulk (“a bunch”), Danish bulk (“bump, knob”). Conflated with Middle English bouk (“belly, trunk”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).