# sunburn

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈsʌnˌbɜːn/ · frequency rank #30,994

## Definitions
1. A burn on the skin caused by excess exposure to the sun's rays.
2. A burn on the tissue of crop plants or their fruits (especially if they are rich in water like tomatoes, grapes, apples, gooseberries) caused by excess exposure to the sun's rays.
3. Suntan.

## Etymology
From Middle English *sunne burnen, *sonne brennen, *sunne brennen (suggested by derivatives sonne brennynge, sunne brennynge (“sunburn”, literally “sun-burning”) and sunne brente (“sunburnt”), equivalent to sun + burn. Compare West Frisian sinnebrân (“sunburn”), Dutch zonnebrand (“sunburn”), German Sonnenbrand (“sunburn”), Swedish solbränna (“sunburn”), and Icelandic sólbruni (“sunburn”), as well as Old English sunbryne (“sunburn”).

## Easily confused with
- **Sunbury** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sunburn-vs-sunbury)
- **sunburst** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sunburn-vs-sunburst)
- **suburb** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/suburb-vs-sunburn)
- **Sudbury** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sudbury-vs-sunburn)

## Common misspellings (11)
`snuburn`, `ssunburn`, `subnurn`, `sunbburn`, `sunbrun`, `sunbunr`, `sunburnn`, `sunburrn`, `sunnburn`, `sunubrn`, `usnburn`

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