# bummer

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈbʌ.mɚ/ · frequency rank #22,307

## Definitions
1. A forager, especially in Sherman's March to the Sea of November to December 1864.
2. An idle, worthless fellow, without any visible means of support; a dissipated sponger.
3. A lamb (typically the smallest of a multiple birth) which has been abandoned by its mother or orphaned, and as a consequence is raised in part or in whole by humans.

## Etymology
From German Bummler (“a drifter, a stroller, a rambler, a loiterer, a laggard”), from bummeln (“loaf, loiter, stroll, ramble”).

## Easily confused with
- **buyer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bummer-vs-buyer)
- **butter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bummer-vs-butter)
- **butler** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bummer-vs-butler)
- **burger** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bummer-vs-burger)
- **bumper** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bummer-vs-bumper)
- **bunker** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bummer-vs-bunker)
- **burner** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bummer-vs-burner)
- **bumped** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bummer-vs-bumped)
- **buster** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bummer-vs-buster)
- **buzzer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bummer-vs-buzzer)
- **busier** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bummer-vs-busier)
- **bomber** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bomber-vs-bummer)
- **buffer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buffer-vs-bummer)
- **boomer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boomer-vs-bummer)
- **bummed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bummed-vs-bummer)
- **bugger** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bugger-vs-bummer)
- **bulger** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bulger-vs-bummer)
- **buller** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buller-vs-bummer)
- **Bremer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bremer-vs-bummer)
- **beamer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beamer-vs-bummer)

## Common misspellings (7)
`bbummer`, `bmumer`, `bumemr`, `bumer`, `bummerr`, `bummre`, `ubmmer`

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