Etymologically
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bunny

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈbʌni/[1]

Etymology

It is a pet form of dialect bun, a squirrel or rabbit, also a term of endearment, with -y,[2][3][4][5] perhaps from Scottish bun, the tail of a hare (about 1538).[6][2] The origin of bun is not known;[3][4] Etymonline also mentions French bon or a Scandinavian source,[2] and Barnhart compares Irish bun (“stump, root”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A term of endearment for a woman or child: 1606 (my honey, my bunny, my duck, my dear), in Barnhart and Word Origins.[6][3]

Semantic evolution

As a pet name for a rabbit it is not found until late in the 17th century, from 1690 in Barnhart, about 1699 in Merriam-Webster.[3][6][7] Bun had been used of a squirrel from the 1580s.[2] The Playboy Club hostess, a bunny girl in a costume with rabbit ears and tail, is from 1960,[2][8] and rabbit fur was called bunny from 1950.[8] The Bunny Hug was a ragtime dance of 1912.[2] Informally a bunny is also a devotee of something, as a gym bunny.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 1538 – bun, a hare's tail (Scots).[6]
  • 1606 – bunny, a term of endearment.[6]
  • 1690 – a rabbit.[6]
  • 1912 – the Bunny Hug.[2]
  • 1960 – a bunny girl.[2][8]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. (informal) A rabbit, especially a young one; a child's word.
  2. A nightclub hostess dressed in a costume with rabbit ears and tail.
  3. (slang) A devotee of an activity: a gym bunny.

Word family

  • bunny hug
  • bunny slope
  • dumb bunny
  • dust bunny

Usage notes

A different bunny, a lump or swelling, especially from a blow, is recorded from about 1440,[8][6] and survived in the dialects of Cheshire, East Anglia and Cornwall.[10] In Hampshire a bunny is also a small ravine opening to the sea, from 1873.[8]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  10. ^ 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)