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bullseye

/ˈbʊlzaɪ/noun, interjection

bullseye is a noun meaning “The centre of a target, inside the inner and magpie” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled B-U-L-L-S-E-Y-E and has 2 syllables, and it appears about once in every 2 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of bullseye is bullseyes.

What does bullseye mean?

noun

  1. 1

    The centre of a target, inside the inner and magpie.

  2. 2

    A shot which hits the centre of a target.

  3. 3

    The two central rings on a dartboard.

  4. 4

    A hard striped peppermint-flavoured boiled sweet.

  5. 5

    obsoleteThick glass set into the side of a ship to let in light.

  6. 6

    A hand-cancelled postmark issued by a counter clerk at a post office, typically done on a receipt for proof of mailing.

  7. 7

    The central part of a crown glass disk, with concentric ripple effect.

  8. 8

    A convex glass lens which is placed in front of a lamp to concentrate the light so as to make it more conspicuous as a signal; also the lantern itself.

interjection

  1. 1

    A cry when someone hits the bullseye of a target.

  2. 2

    A response to a totally accurate statement.

    –Did John steal the petty cash? –Bullseye.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you pronounce bullseye?

  • US /ˈbʊlzaɪ/
  • Australia /ˈbʊlzɑɪ/

Bullseye has 2 syllables (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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-bullseye.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of bullseye

  • bullseyes plural
  • bull's-eye
  • bull's eye

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How common is bullseye?

Bullseye appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 36,998th 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).

Bullseye in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchmille, mouche (centre of a target), hublot (thick glass set into the side of a ship to let…), cul-de-bouteille (central part of crown glass disk), dans le mille (cry)
GermanMitte, Zielscheibenmitte (centre of a target), Bullauge (thick glass set into the side of a ship to let…), Butzen (central part of crown glass disk), Blattschuss (cry), Volltreffer (shot which hits the centre of a target)
Portuguesealvo, na mosca, muche, mosca (centre of a target)
Spanishcentro del blanco (centre of a target), ojo de buey (thick glass set into the side of a ship to let…), diana (shot which hits the centre of a target)

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 bullseye come from?

From bull's + eye. May have come from the practice of English archers shooting an arrow through the eye socket of a bull's skull as a test of skill. The connection to philately comes from the shape of the key plate or vignette.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).