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PlainSpell

bun

/bʌn/noun, verb

bun is spelled B-U-N: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 3.6 times per million words in written English, the 13,695th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, bun means “A small bread roll that is sweetened or spiced” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of bun is buns.

How many letters and syllables are in bun?

Letters3: B-U-N
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing3.6 times per million words; the 13,695th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

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 bun?

Bun appears 3.6 times per million words in written English, the 13,695th 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 bun?

  • US /bʌn/
  • Australia /bɐn/
  • /bən/

Bun 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-bun.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with bun

Also written: pun.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with bun?

9 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as bun from its last stressed vowel (/ʌn/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: nub.

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 bun

  • buns plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • bunning participle, present
  • bunned participle, past
  • p'un
  • pun

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

What does bun mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A small bread roll that is sweetened or spiced.

  2. 2

    A bread roll that is served with a savoury filling such as a hamburger or hot dog.

  3. 3

    Any bread roll.

  4. 4

    IrelandA cupcake.

  5. 5

    A roll of hair worn at the back of the head.

    loose bun;   messy bun;   tight bun

  6. 6

    UKslangA drunken spree.

  7. 7

    A newbie.

  8. 8

    slangA young girl or woman.

  9. 9

    slangmarijuana cigarette, joint

  10. 10

    A Korean unit of length equivalent to about 0.3 cm.

  11. 11

    colloquialClipping of bunny (“rabbit”).

    She brought home two new buns to join the menagerie!

  12. 12

    archaicA bunny: a rabbit.

  13. 13

    archaicA squirrel.

  14. 14

    archaicThe scut or tail of a hare.

  15. 15

    archaicA dry stalk.

verb

  1. 1

    To form (the hair) into a bun.

  2. 2

    slangTo smoke cannabis.

  3. 3

    slangTo shoot.

  4. 4

    slangTo forget.

noun

as BUN
  1. 1

    Initialism of blood urea nitrogen.

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

Bun in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpetit pain (a small bread roll, often sweetened or spiced), chignon (a tight roll of hair worn at the back of the…), biture (a drunken spree)
GermanBrötchen, Hefestück, Weck, Teilchen, Semmel (a small bread roll, often sweetened or spiced), Knoten (a tight roll of hair worn at the back of the…)
Portuguesepãozinho (doce) (a small bread roll, often sweetened or spiced), coque (a tight roll of hair worn at the back of the…)
Spanishbollo, panecillo, bolillo, bolla, gallofa, mollete (a small bread roll, often sweetened or spiced)

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 bun come from?

From Middle English bunne (“wheat cake, bun”), from Anglo-Norman bugne (“bump on the head; fritter”), from Old French bugne (hence French beignet), from Frankish *bungjo (“little clump”), diminutive of *bungu (“lump, clump”), from Proto-Germanic *bungô, *bunkô (“clump, lump, heap, crowd”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰenǵʰ- (“thick, dense, fat”). Cognate with Dutch bonk (“clump, clot, cluster of fruits”). More at bunch.

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

What to look up after bun