# buoy

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈbɔɪ/ · frequency rank #28,856

## Definitions
1. A float moored in water to mark a location, warn of danger, indicate a navigational channel or for other purposes
2. A float moored in water to mark a location, warn of danger, indicate a navigational channel or for other purposes
3. A sign where the non-dominant hand is held in a stationary configuration as a landmark for meaning associations with the dominant hand.

## Etymology
From Middle English boy, boye, from Middle Dutch boeye (“float, buoy”), from Old French boue (“piece of wood or cork that floats above an anchor to indicate where it is anchored”) (modern French bouée), ultimately from Frankish *baukn (“beacon”). Doublet of beacon. Same root as English bon in bonfire.
Alternatively, and perhaps less likely (due to the unexplained shift in meaning), from Middle Dutch boeye (“shackle, fetter”), from Old French buie (“fetter, chain”), from Latin boia (“a (leather) collar, band, fetter”), from Ancient Greek βόεος (bóeos), βόειος (bóeios, “of ox-hide”), from βοῦς (boûs, “ox”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws (“cow”).
Noun sense 2 was coined by American linguist Scott K. Lindell in 2003.

## Easily confused with
- **by** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buoy-vs-by)
- **but** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buoy-vs-but)
- **buy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buoy-vs-buy)
- **bus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buoy-vs-bus)
- **bur** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buoy-vs-bur)
- **busy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buoy-vs-busy)
- **burn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buoy-vs-burn)
- **bush** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buoy-vs-bush)
- **butt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buoy-vs-butt)
- **buzz** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buoy-vs-buzz)
- **bust** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buoy-vs-bust)
- **buys** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buoy-vs-buys)
- **bury** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buoy-vs-bury)
- **Burt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buoy-vs-burt)
- **burr** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buoy-vs-burr)
- **buss** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buoy-vs-buss)
- **Burg** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buoy-vs-burg)
- **burp** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buoy-vs-burp)
- **bute** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buoy-vs-bute)
- **busty** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/buoy-vs-busty)

## Common misspellings (5)
`bbuoy`, `bouy`, `buoyy`, `buyo`, `uboy`

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