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PlainSpell

bustle

/ˈbʌsəl/noun, verb

bustle is spelled B-U-S-T-L-E: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 29,649th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, bustle means “An excited activity; a stir” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of bustle is bustles.

How many letters and syllables are in bustle?

Letters6: B-U-S-T-L-E
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 1 million words; the 29,649th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is bustle?

Bustle appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 29,649th 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 bustle?

  • /ˈbʌsəl/

Bustle has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-bustle.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with bustle?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as bustle.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: subtle, sublet.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of bustle

  • bustles plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • bustling participle, present
  • bustled participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does bustle mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    An excited activity; a stir.

    the hum and bustle; a din and bustle

  2. 2

    A cover to protect and hide the back panel of a computer or other office machine.

  3. 3

    A frame worn underneath a woman's skirt, typically only protruding from the rear as opposed to the earlier more circular hoops.

  4. 4

    UKobsoleteslangMoney; cash.

verb

  1. 1

    To move busily and energetically with fussiness (often followed by about).

    The commuters bustled about inside the train station.

  2. 2

    To teem or abound (usually followed by with); to exhibit an energetic and active abundance (of a thing).

    The train station was bustling with commuters.

  3. 3

    To push around, to importune.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Bustle in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchaffairement, branlebas, remue-ménage, agitation (excited activity), tournure (frame worn underneath a woman's skirt), s'affairer (to move busily and energetically)
GermanHektik (excited activity), Turnüre (frame worn underneath a woman's skirt), hasten (to move busily and energetically)
Portuguesefreneticidade (excited activity)
Spanishajetreo (excited activity), polisón (frame worn underneath a woman's skirt), ajetrear, trajinar (to move busily and energetically), abundar (to teem or abound (with))

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does bustle come from?

From Middle English bustlen, bustelen, bostlen, perhaps an alteration of *busklen (> Modern English buskle), a frequentative of Middle English busken (“to prepare; make ready”), from Old Norse búask (“to prepare oneself”); or alternatively from a frequentative form of Middle English busten, bisten (“to buffet; pummel; dash; beat”) + -le. Compare also Icelandic bustla (“to splash; bustle”). The etymology of noun sense 3 is uncertain, perhaps related to busk (“strip in a corset”) or German Buschel.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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