busk

/bʌsk/

//bʌsk// verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"busk" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“busk” is uncommon English (frequency #75,691 among 4,121 “B” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#75,691
frequency rank, English
4,121
“B” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To solicit money by entertaining the public in the street or in public transport.

Corpus desk

Index EN-busk · busk · English

busk · rank #75,691 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #75,691
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,121
  • PHOTO-FINISH bursar

Nearest frequency peer: bursar (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “busk”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “busk” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for busk
PropertyValue
Headwordbusk
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/bʌsk/
Letters4
Frequency rank#75,691
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “busk” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).buskfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “bursar” (#75,690), “bustier” (#75,692), “bux” (#75,693). Among 4,121 “B” headwords, “busk” is #75,691. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

busk is uncommon English at frequency #75,691 among 4,121 “B” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /bʌsk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

busk has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: Apparently from French busquer or Spanish buscar. The correct English form is busk, spelled B-U-S-K.

Definition

  1. 1
    To solicit money by entertaining the public in the street or in public transport.
  2. 2
    To sell articles such as obscene books in public houses etc.
  3. 3
    To tack, cruise about.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how busk appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The frothy orator, who busked his tales In quackish pomp of noisy words

Etymology

Apparently from French busquer or Spanish buscar.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "busk"?
"busk" is spelled B-U-S-K. The IPA pronunciation is /bʌsk/.
What does "busk" mean?
As a verb, "busk" means: To solicit money by entertaining the public in the street or in public transport.
How do you pronounce "busk"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "busk" is /bʌsk/. 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 "busk"?
Apparently from French busquer or Spanish buscar. 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "busk", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

BYOB#75,694Blom#75,665coir#75,741anny#75,615

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list