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pump

/pʌmp/noun, verb

pump is spelled P-U-M-P: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 19 times per million words in written English, the 4,444th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, pump means “A device for moving or compressing a liquid or gas” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of pump is pumps.

How many letters and syllables are in pump?

Letters4: P-U-M-P
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing19 times per million words; the 4,444th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

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).

How common is pump?

Pump appears 19 times per million words in written English, the 4,444th 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 pump?

  • /pʌmp/

Pump 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-pump.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of pump

  • pumps plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • pumping participle, present
  • pumped participle, past

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

What does pump mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A device for moving or compressing a liquid or gas.

    This pump can deliver 100 gallons of water per minute.

  2. 2

    An instance of the action of a pump; one stroke of a pump; any action similar to pumping.

    It takes thirty pumps to get 10 litres; he did 50 pumps of the weights.

  3. 3

    A device for dispensing liquid or gas to be sold, particularly fuel; a gas pump.

    This pump is out of order, but you can gas up at the next one.

  4. 4

    A swelling of the muscles caused by increased blood flow following high intensity weightlifting.

  5. 5

    colloquialA ride on a bicycle given to a passenger, usually on the handlebars or fender.

    She gave the other girl a pump on her new bike.

  6. 6

    USslangThe heart.

  7. 7

    UKobsoleteslangvulgarThe vagina.

  8. 8

    UKA low-top shoe with a rubber sole and a canvas upper; a low-top canvas sneaker.

  9. 9

    CanadaUSA type of women's shoe which leaves the instep uncovered and has a relatively high heel, especially a stiletto (with a very high and thin heel)

    She was wearing a lovely new pair of pumps.

  10. 10

    A dancing shoe.

  11. 11

    A type of shoe without a heel.

verb

  1. 1

    To use a pump; to move (water or other liquid) by means of a pump.

    I've been pumping for over a minute but the water isn't coming through.

  2. 2

    To inject or pour (something) into someone or something in a manner similar to a pump.

  3. 3

    obsoleteTo put (a person or part of the body) under a stream of water from a pump, as a punishment or as a form of medical treatment; to force a pump of water upon or on someone.

  4. 4

    To gain something, especially information, from (a person) by persistent questioning.

  5. 5

    UKslangTo have sex with; to sexually penetrate, especially with a thrusting motion.

  6. 6

    To express milk from (a breast) by means of a breast pump.

  7. 7

    To fill with air by means of a pump; to inflate.

    He pumped up the air-bed by hand, but used the service station air to pump up the tyres.

  8. 8

    To move rhythmically, as the motion of a pump.

    I pumped my fist with joy when I won the race.

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

Pump in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpompe (device for moving liquid or gas), distributeur (device for dispensing liquid or gas to be sold…), pomper (transitive: to use a pump to move liquid or gas)
GermanPumpe (device for moving liquid or gas), Zapfsäule (device for dispensing liquid or gas to be sold…), pumpen (transitive: to use a pump to move liquid or gas), aufpumpen (to fill with air), nachhaken, insistieren (to gain information by persistent questioning)
Portuguesebomba (device for moving liquid or gas), bombear (transitive: to use a pump to move liquid or gas), bombeio (instance of the action of a pump; one stroke of…), estar bombando (slang: to be going very well)
Spanishbomba, pompa, aguatocha (device for moving liquid or gas), surtidor (device for dispensing liquid or gas to be sold…), bombear (transitive: to use a pump to move liquid or gas), bombeo (instance of the action of a pump; one stroke of…)

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 pump come from?

From Middle English pumpe, possibly from Middle Dutch pompe (“pipe, water conduit”) or Middle Low German pumpe (“pump”), probably ultimately imitative. Compare Dutch pompen, German pumpen, and Danish pompe; also Spanish bomba (“pump”).

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

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