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bus

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

3 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "bus", 3-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "bus" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "bus" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

bus is aEnglishnoun. It means: A motor vehicle for transporting large numbers of people along roads. Pronounced /bʌs/. It ranks #1,554 in English word frequency. Often confused with by and BW.

Key facts for bus
PropertyValue
Headwordbus
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/bʌs/
Letters3
Frequency rank#1,554
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of bus in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for bus is 3 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /bʌs/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,554 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for bus in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable English patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "by", "BW", "BX", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₃ep-der. Proto-Italic *opnis Latin omnis Latin omnibuslbor. French omnibusbor. English omnibusclip. English bus Clipping of omnibus. Superseded earlier 'bus, where the apostrophe indicated a clipping. The shift in spelli… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is bus, spelled B-U-S, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    A motor vehicle for transporting large numbers of people along roads.
  2. 2
    A motor vehicle for transporting large numbers of people along roads.
  3. 3
    Any motorized vehicle, such as a motorbike or car.
  4. 4
    An electrical conductor or interface serving as a common connection for two or more circuits or components.
  5. 5
    Part of a MIRV missile, having on-board motors used to deliver the warhead to a target.
  6. 6
    An ambulance.
  7. 7
    An aeroplane.
  8. 8
    A network topology with each computer connected to a single cable.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₃ep-der. Proto-Italic *opnis Latin omnis Latin omnibuslbor. French omnibusbor. English omnibusclip. English bus Clipping of omnibus. Superseded earlier 'bus, where the apostrophe indicated a clipping. The shift in spelling likely reflects the fact that modern speakers no longer perceive this term as a clipping. The electrical sense is derived from figurative application of the automotive sense.

This word in other languages

Frequency rank: #1,554 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "bus"?
"bus" is spelled B-U-S. The IPA pronunciation is /bʌs/.
What does "bus" mean?
As a noun, "bus" means: A motor vehicle for transporting large numbers of people along roads.
What words are commonly confused with "bus"?
"bus" is commonly confused with "by", "BW", "BX". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "bus"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bus" is /bʌs/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "bus"?
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₃ep-der. Proto-Italic *opnis Latin omnis Latin omnibuslbor. French omnibusbor. English omnibusclip. English bus Clipping of omnibus. Superseded earlier 'bus, where the apostrophe indicated a clipping. The shift... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter B in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.