bully
/ˈbʊli/
"bully" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bully” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #8,644 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #8,644
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A person who is intentionally physically or emotionally cruel to others, especially to those whom they perceive as being vulnerable or of less power or privilege.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bully |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbʊli/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #8,644 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bully” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for bully is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈbʊli/. Corpus data places it at rank #8,644 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 13 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for bully, with forms such as "bbully", "bluly", and "bullyy". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "buy", "busy", "bury", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From 1530, as a term of endearment, probably a diminutive ( + -y) of Dutch boel (“lover; brother”), from Middle Dutch boel, boele (“brother; lover”), from Old Dutch *buolo, from Proto-Germanic *bōlô (compare Middle Low German bôle (“brother”), Middle High G… The correct English form is bully, spelled B-U-L-L-Y.
Definition
- 1A person who is intentionally physically or emotionally cruel to others, especially to those whom they perceive as being vulnerable or of less power or privilege.
- 2A noisy, blustering, tyrannical person, more insolent than courageous; one who is threatening and quarrelsome.
- 3A hired thug.
- 4A sex worker's minder.
- 5Bully beef.
- 6A brisk, dashing fellow.
- 7The small scrum in the Eton College field game.
- 8Any of various small freshwater or brackishwater fish of the family Eleotridae; sleeper gobies.
- 9An (eldest) brother; a fellow workman; comrade
- 10A companion; mate (male or female).
- 11A darling, sweetheart (male or female).
- 12A standoff between two players from the opposing teams, who repeatedly hit each other's hockey sticks and then attempt to acquire the ball, as a method of resuming the game in certain circumstances.
- 13A miner's hammer.
Etymology
From 1530, as a term of endearment, probably a diminutive ( + -y) of Dutch boel (“lover; brother”), from Middle Dutch boel, boele (“brother; lover”), from Old Dutch *buolo, from Proto-Germanic *bōlô (compare Middle Low German bôle (“brother”), Middle High German buole (“brother; close relative; close relation”) (whence German Buhle (“lover”)), Old English Bōla, Bōlla (personal name), diminutive of expressive *bō- (“brother, father”). Compare also Latvian bālinš (“brother”). More at boy. The term acquired a negative connotation during the 17th century; first ‘noisy, blustering fellow’ then ‘a person who is cruel to others’. Possibly influenced by bull (“male cattle”) or via the ‘prostitute's minder’ sense. The positive senses are dated, but survive in phrases such as bully pulpit.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bbully,bluly,bullyy,buly,bulyl,ublly
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of bully - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “bully”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-U-L-L-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈbʊli/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “buy” - see the side-by-side comparison. bully vs buy
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.