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PlainSpell

bump

/bʌmp/noun, verb, interjection

bump is spelled B-U-M-P: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 9.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,338th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, bump means “A light blow or jolting collision” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of bump is bumps.

How many letters and syllables are in bump?

Letters4: B-U-M-P
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing9.5 times per million words; the 7,338th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is bump?

Bump appears 9.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,338th 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 bump?

  • /bʌmp/
  • US /bʌmp/
  • US [bʌm̥p]

Bump 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-au-bump.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with bump?

3 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as bump from its last stressed vowel (/ʌmp/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of bump

  • bumps plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • bumping participle, present
  • bumped participle, past

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

What does bump mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A light blow or jolting collision.

    His car had a tiny bump with a moving bus.

  2. 2

    The sound of such a collision.

    He heard a loud bump and saw the front part of his car was broken and the driver of the other car was running to apologise.

  3. 3

    informalAny light sound.

    He heard bumps in the night.

  4. 4

    A fist bump.

    I held my fist up, and he gave me a bump before leaving.

  5. 5

    A car accident, usually a small one.

    I had a bump last time I drove into the city.

  6. 6

    A collision, especially a fall.

    Did you see the bump he took last night?

  7. 7

    slangA dose of a drug, such as ketamine or cocaine, snorted; a small dose of a snorted drug.

  8. 8

    informalA conflict.

  9. 9

    The breeding call made by the bittern; a boom.

verb

  1. 1

    To knock against or run into with a jolt.

    Their car got bumped while they were turning at the junction.

  2. 2

    To move up or down by a step; displace.

    I bumped the font size up to make my document easier to read.

  3. 3

    To post in an Internet forum thread in order to raise the thread's profile by returning it to the top of the list of active threads.

  4. 4

    To suddenly boil, causing movement of the vessel and loss of liquid.

  5. 5

    To move (a booked passenger) to a later flight because of earlier delays or cancellations.

  6. 6

    To move the time of (a scheduled event).

  7. 7

    To pick (a lock) with a repeated striking motion that dislodges the pins.

  8. 8

    To increase (a version number).

  9. 9

    Of a bittern, to make its characteristic breeding call.

interjection

  1. 1

    Posted in an Internet forum thread in order to raise the thread's profile by returning it to the top of the list of active threads.

interjection

as BUMP
  1. 1

    Alternative form of bump.

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

Bump in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchbourrade (a light blow or jolting collision), boum (the sound of such a collision), bosse, saillie (a protuberance on a level surface), heurter, magner (to knock against with a light blow or collision)
GermanSchlag, Stoß (a light blow or jolting collision), Bums, Plumps (the sound of such a collision), Bodenwelle, Delle (a protuberance on a level surface)
Portugueseestrondo (the sound of such a collision), saliência, protuberância (a protuberance on a level surface), bater (to knock against with a light blow or collision), inchaço, galo (a swelling on the skin caused by illness or…)
Spanishbache, bulto, gibosidad (a protuberance on a level surface), chichón, tolondro, cototo (a swelling on the skin caused by illness or…)

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 bump come from?

From Early Modern English bump (“a shock, blow from a collision”), probably of North Germanic origin; compare Danish bump (“a thump”), Danish bumpe (“to thump”), Old Danish bumpe (“to strike with a clenched fist”), all probably of imitative origin. Apparently related to Middle English bumben, bummen (“to make a hollow noise”), Dutch bommen (“to hum, buzz”), German Low German bumsen (“to bump, push”), German bummen (“to hum, buzz”), Icelandic bumba (“drum”). More at bum, bumble. Compare also bomb.

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

What to look up after bump