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PlainSpell

gun

/ˈɡʌn/noun, verb

gun is spelled G-U-N: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 91 times per million words in written English, the 1,167th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, gun means “A device for shooting projectiles or ditto (a shooter), functioning through stored energy: a firearm, cannon, harpoon gun/spear gun, raygun, etc, not…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of gun is guns.

How many letters and syllables are in gun?

Letters3: G-U-N
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing91 times per million words; the 1,167th 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 gun?

Gun appears 91 times per million words in written English, the 1,167th 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 gun?

  • /ˈɡʌn/
  • /ˈɡɜn/
  • /ɡʊn/

Gun has one syllable (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: En-us-gun.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with gun?

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

Spelled with the same letters in another order: gnu, nug.

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 gun

  • guns plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • gunning participle, present
  • gunned participle, past

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

What does gun mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A device for shooting projectiles or ditto (a shooter), functioning through stored energy: a firearm, cannon, harpoon gun/spear gun, raygun, etc, not a bow and arrow, or slingshot.

    Well, I've always been progun, you know that. It's... yeah, I think adding more guns into a situation is obviously the way to prevent shooting. I think in a way, if we take the guns away, the shootings may escalate. And I think that's why h

  2. 2

    A very portable, short firearm, for hand use, which fires bullets or projectiles, such as a handgun, revolver, pistol, or Derringer.

  3. 3

    A less portable, long firearm that fires bullets or projectiles; a rifle, either manual, automatic or semi-automatic; a flintlock, musket or shotgun.

  4. 4

    A cannon with relatively long barrel, operating with relatively low angle of fire, and having a high muzzle velocity.

  5. 5

    A cannon with a 6-inch/155mm minimum nominal bore diameter and tube length 30 calibers or more.

  6. 6

    A firearm or cannon used for saluting or signalling.

    21-gun salute

  7. 7

    Any implement designed to fire a projectile from a tube.

    air-pressure pellet gun

  8. 8

    A device or tool that projects a substance.

    squirt gun

  9. 9

    obsoleteslangA magsman or street thief.

verb

  1. 1

    To shoot with a gun.

  2. 2

    To cause to speed up.

    He gunned the engine.

  3. 3

    informalTo offer vigorous support to (a person or cause).

    We're all gunning for you.

  4. 4

    informalTo strongly desire or seek, and make a great effort to obtain (something which one is 'gunning for' or 'gunning to do').

  5. 5

    To seek to attack someone; to take aim at someone; used with for.

    He's been gunning for you ever since you embarrassed him at the party.

  6. 6

    To practice fowling or hunting small game; chiefly in participial form: to go gunning.

  7. 7

    USslangSynonym of gun down (“to masturbate while making sustained eye contact with someone – typically a female prison officer – as a form of intimidation”).

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

Gun in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchflingue (shooting device functioning through stored…), pistolet (portable, short weapon, for hand use), fusil (less portable, long weapon), canon (military: cannon with relatively long barrel…)
GermanPistole, Handbüchse (portable, short weapon, for hand use), Gewehr (less portable, long weapon), Geschütz, Kanone (military: cannon with relatively long barrel…)
Portuguesearma de fogo, pistola (portable, short weapon, for hand use), fuzil, rifle (less portable, long weapon), canhão (military: cannon with relatively long barrel…), obus (military: cannon with tube length 30 calibers…)
Spanishpistola, charpe (portable, short weapon, for hand use), escopeta, rifle, fusil (less portable, long weapon), cañón (military: cannon with relatively long barrel…)

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 gun come from?

From Middle English gunne, gonne, possibly from Gunnhild, a female given name formerly used as a nickname for engines of war (compare Nordic Gunn, a female name meaning “battle”). The name is composed of the Norse elements gunnr and hildr, both meaning "battle".

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

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