# bush

> English word · Noun · IPA /bʊʃ/ · frequency rank #3,043

## Definitions
1. A woody plant distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, being usually less than six metres tall; a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category.
2. A shrub cut off, or a shrublike branch of a tree.
3. A shrub or branch, properly, a branch of ivy (sacred to Bacchus), hung out at vintners' doors, or as a tavern sign; hence, a tavern sign, and symbolically, the tavern itself.
4. A person's pubic hair, especially a woman's.
5. The tail, or brush, of a fox.

## Etymology
From Middle English bush, from Old English *busċ, *bysċ (“copse, grove, scrub”, in placenames), from Proto-West Germanic *busk, from Proto-Germanic *buskaz (“bush, thicket”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to grow”). Doublet of bosque.
Cognates
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Busk (“bush”), West Frisian bosk (“forest”), Dutch bos, bosch (“forest, wood”), German Busch (“bush, shrub; small forest, grove”), Luxembourgish Bësch (“forest, wood”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk busk (“bush, shrub”), Icelandic buski (“bush, shrub”), Swedish buske (“bush, shrub”), Persian بیشه (bêša/biše, “woods”). Latin and Romance forms (Latin boscus, Occitan bòsc, French bois, bûche and buisson, Italian bosco and boscaglia, Spanish bosque, Portuguese bosque) derive from the Germanic.
Compare typologically Russian за́росли (zárosli) (akin to расти́ (rastí)). Also compare Russian быльё (bylʹjó) (distantly cognate via *bʰuH-).

## Easily confused with
- **but** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bush-vs-but)
- **buy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bush-vs-buy)
- **busy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bush-vs-busy)
- **butt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bush-vs-butt)
- **buzz** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bush-vs-buzz)
- **bust** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bush-vs-bust)
- **buys** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bush-vs-buys)
- **buss** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bush-vs-buss)
- **bute** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bush-vs-bute)
- **butch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bush-vs-butch)
- **busts** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bush-vs-busts)
- **busty** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bush-vs-busty)
- **bushy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bush-vs-bushy)
- **busta** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bush-vs-busta)
- **bushes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bush-vs-bushes)
- **bushel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bush-vs-bushel)
- **BS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bs-vs-bush)
- **BH** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bh-vs-bush)
- **bus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bus-vs-bush)
- **bug** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bug-vs-bush)

## Common misspellings (6)
`bbush`, `bsuh`, `buhs`, `bushh`, `bussh`, `ubsh`

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