bunkum
bunk·um/ˈbʌŋkəm/noun
bunkum is spelled B-U-N-K-U-M: 6 letters and 2 syllables (bunk·um). It appears about once in every 21 million words in written English, the 138,319th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, bunkum means “Senseless talk; nonsense; a piece of nonsense” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of bunkum is bunkums.
How many letters and syllables are in bunkum?
| Letters | 6: B-U-N-K-U-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: bunk·um |
| In writing | about once in every 21 million words; the 138,319th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is bunkum?
Bunkum appears about once in every 21 million words in written English, the 138,319th 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 bunkum?
- /ˈbʌŋkəm/
Bunkum has 2 syllables, split bunk·um in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-bunkum.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of bunkum
- bunkums plural
- buncombe
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does bunkum mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
datedslangSenseless talk; nonsense; a piece of nonsense.
- 2
datedBombastic political posturing or oratorical display designed only for show or public applause.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does bunkum come from?
From buncombe, from “speaking to (or for) Buncombe County, North Carolina”, a county in North Carolina named for Edward Buncombe. In 1820, Felix Walker, who represented the county in the U.S. House of Representatives, rose to address the question of admitting Missouri as a free or slave state, his first attempt to speak on the subject after nearly a month of solid debate, right before the vote was to be called.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).