bun

Etymology

The origin is uncertain, and many dictionaries call it unknown.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]} It first appears as inherited from Middle English bunne, also bonne.^[9][10] The MED, Merriam-Webster and the American Heritage Dictionary think it probably borrowed from Old French bugne (“a boil, a swelling; a bump on the head”);^[9][11][12] the MED and the AHD take the French word to be Celtic, from Gaulish *bunia,^[9][12] while Merriam-Webster thinks it probably non-Indo-European, akin to the source of Catalan bony (“bump on the head”).^[11] The French dialect word bugne is used at Lyon for a fritter or pancake.^[2][11] Skeat and Barnhart preferred the diminutive buignet (“a fritter”), also bugnete;^[13][14][15] the OED explains that a sense "puffed loaf" for bugne is only conjectured and doubts that it would account for the English form.^[2] Spanish buñuelo (“fritter”) appears to have the same origin.^[14][2][15] Etymonline also mentions a Germanic source (compare Middle High German bunge (“clod, lump”)),^[15] Klein and Partridge a Celtic one (compare Scottish Gaelic bonnach, whence bannock),^[16][10][15] and Weekley a special use of French bon (“good”).^[17]

Earliest recorded meaning

A small loaf or cake of wheat: in 1371, in a Latin document of the London Guildhall that mentions a white loaf "called bunne" costing a halfpenny.^[9][2][8] The Promptorium Parvulorum (1440) glosses bunne as a kind of bread, Latin placenta.^[9][17]

Semantic evolution

The OED notes that the kind of cake meant varies greatly from place to place, though in England it is usually a small round sweet cake.^[2] Cotgrave (1611) explained the French bugnets as "bunnes, Lenten loaves".^[2] In Scotland a bun is a rich fruit cake,^[3] and in Westmorland and Yorkshire dialect a dinner roll or small loaf.^[18] Hair coiled at the back of the head in the shape of a bun is recorded from 1894.^[2][15] To have a bun in the oven, to be pregnant, dates from 1951.^[15] The plural buns for the buttocks is North American slang from 1960, which the OED places under this word;^[2] Etymonline suggests a resemblance, but also notes that bun meant a hare's tail in Scottish and northern English from the 1530s and was applied to people, and that this may have a separate source.^[15][2] In New Zealand a bun or bun hat was a bowler hat, from 1892 in Green's Dictionary of Slang and 1941 in the OED.^[19][2]

Timeline

• 1371 – bunne, a small wheat loaf or cake.^[9][2]
• 1440 – bunne glossed Latin placenta.^[9]
• 1611 – bunnes, Lenten loaves, in Cotgrave.^[2]
• 1892 – bun hat, a bowler hat, in New Zealand.^[19]
• 1894 – hair coiled at the back of the head.^[2][15]
• 1951 – a bun in the oven.^[15]
• 1960 – buns, the buttocks.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small round soft bread roll, often slightly sweet and containing currants or spices: She bought a bag of sticky buns for the office.^[7][11][2]
2. A plain round or oblong roll, as used for a hamburger.^[11]
3. Any of various small round sweet cakes.^[7]
4. Long hair twisted into a round coil or knot at the back of the head: She wore her hair in a neat bun.^[7][11][2]
5. (slang, chiefly North American, usually plural) The buttocks.^[11][2]
6. have a bun in the oven (slang): to be pregnant.^[7][15]
7. (New Zealand slang) A bowler hat, also bun hat.^[2][19]

Word family

• hot cross bun
• Bath bun
• cinnamon bun
• honey bun
• sticky bun

Related words

• bannock
• beignet
• bunion

Usage notes

Several other words are spelled bun, all of unknown origin. bune, a hollow stem or stalk, survived in dialect into the 19th century.^[2][3][11] A bun was a hare's tail in Scots and northern English from about 1538, perhaps from Scottish Gaelic bun (“root, stump”).^[2][3][11] From 1587 bun was a pet name for the squirrel and later for the rabbit, which survives in bunny.^[2][8][6] To have a bun on, to be drunk, is recorded from 1899 in American slang.^[19][2][11]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ a b c d e f g Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
10. ^ a b Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
13. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
16. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
17. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
18. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
19. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com