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Attested since the 1300s,[1][2][3] as Middle English bom[1] (found in John Trevisa's 1387 Translation of the 'Polychronicon' of Ranulph Higden, "his bom is oute"), of uncertain origin.[1] Sometimes suggested to be a shortening of botme, botom, bottum (“bottom”), but this is contradicted by the fact that bottom is not attested in reference to the buttocks until the late 1700s.[4][5] Suggested by some old[4] and modern references to be onomatopoeic.[3]
Compare also Old Irish, Scottish Gaelic bun (“base, bottom”).
bum (plural bums)
- (informal or childish, chiefly Commonwealth) The buttocks.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:buttocks
Okay, everyone sit on your bum and try and touch your toes.
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:bum.
- (informal or childish, chiefly Commonwealth) The anus.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:anus
2013, Steven L. Ablon, Daniel P. Brown, Edward J. Khantzian, Human Feelings: Explorations in Affect Development and Meaning, page 132:
John said that when he was little he stuck his finger in his bum and tasted his poopies and it was good.
2015, Jonathan Nicholas, Who'd be a copper?: Thirty years a frontline British cop:
What could the man possibly be hiding up his bum anyway?
2016, Lisa Keenan-Lindsay, Cheryl Sams, Constance L. O'Connor, Maternal Child Nursing Care in Canada, page 118:
Do you have intercourse (i.e., Do you penetrate your partner in the vagina or anus [bum]? Or does your partner penetrate your vagina or anus [bum])?
2017, Jean Renvoize, Innocence Destroyed: A Study of Child Sexual Abuse:
[…] and said Daddy had put a finger up her bum.
- While bum is most common in the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, in Canada, bum is mainly used when speaking to young children, as in Everyone please sit on your bum and we’ll read a story. In the United States, bum is not often used in this sense (though this may vary from dialect to dialect) except in conscious imitation of British English. The term butt is the most common term in North America except in professional contexts such as medical, legal, and scientific where buttocks is generally used or gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, etc. for the muscles specifically. Glutes is often used in sports medicine and bodybuilding. Ass (originally a dialectal variant of arse) is considered vulgar in North America, whereas backside, behind, bottom and rear are considered to be non-specific terms.
informal: buttocks or anus
- Bulgarian: задник (bg) m (zadnik)
- Dutch: gat (nl) n, kont (nl) m, reet (nl) m, poep (nl) f (Flemish), achterwerk (nl) n, achterste (nl) n
- Finnish: peppu (fi), perse (fi), takapuoli (fi), pylly (fi)
- French: cul (fr) m
- Galician: cuíño
- German: Hintern (de) m, Po (de) m, Popo (de) m (childish)
- Greek: ποπός (el) m (popós), πισινός (el) m (pisinós)
- Hungarian: popsi (hu) (humorous, childish), popó (hu) (childish)
- Icelandic: rass (is) m, bossi (is) m
- Irish: bundún m
- Italian: deretano (it), didietro (it) m, culo (it), sedere (it) m
- Malayalam: ചന്തി (ml) (canti)
- Polish: pupa (pl) f
- Portuguese: nalgas (pt), cu (pt), ânus (pt) m, traseiro (pt) m, bunda (pt) f, bumbum (pt) m
- Romanian: cur (ro) n, fund (ro) n
- Russian: за́дница (ru) f (zádnica)
- Scottish Gaelic: màs m, tòn f
- Spanish: ano (es), trasero (es)
- Swedish: häck (sv), rumpa (sv), stjärt (sv) c
- Tamil: குண்டி (ta) (kuṇṭi)
- Ukrainian: ду́па (dúpa), сра́ка (sráka), зад (zad)
informal: butt(ocks) specifically
- Bulgarian: дупе n (dupe)
- Dutch: billen (nl) f pl, bips (nl) m
- Finnish: peppu (fi), pakarat (fi) pl, takapuoli (fi)
- French: fesses (fr) f pl
- Greek: οπίσθια (el) n pl (opísthia)
- Italian: glutei (it), chiappe (it)
- Portuguese: nalgas (pt), bunda (pt) f, nádegas (pt) f pl, bumbum (pt) m
- Romanian: buci f pl
- Russian: за́дница (ru) f (zádnica)
- Scottish Gaelic: màs m, tòn m
- Spanish: nalgas (es)
- Swedish: skinkor (sv) c pl
- Ukrainian: ду́па (dúpa), сра́ка (sráka)
anus specifically
- Dutch: anus (nl) m
- Finnish: perse (fi), anus (fi), perseenreikä
- French: cul (fr) m, trou du cul (fr) m
- German: Anus (de) m
- Italian: ano (it) m
- Kwak'wala: mengas
- Portuguese: cu (pt), ânus (pt) m, brioco m, toba (pt) m
- Romanian: cur (ro) n, anus (ro) n
- Scottish Gaelic: màs m, tòn f
- Swedish: anus (sv) n, rövhål (sv) n
bum (third-person singular simple present bums, present participle bumming, simple past and past participle bummed)
- (UK, Ireland, transitive, colloquial) To sodomize; to engage in anal sex.
2016 December 3, “Soph Aspin Send”, performed by Millie B:
Your bars are fake and my bars are real; / Is it true you got bummed on a field?
bum
- (UK, Ireland, childish, euphemistic) An expression of annoyance.
- Synonym: arse (more vulgar)
2010, Jill Mansell, Sheer Mischief[1]:
Maxine tried hers. ‘Oh bum,’ she said crossly. ‘The sugar isn’t sugar. It’s salt.’
- bare-bum
- belfie
- builder's bum
- bum bag
- bum boy
- bumboy
- bum-breathing
- bum bum
- bum-bum
- bum burp
- bum cheeks
- bum chum
- bum-clock
- bum crack
- bumfluff
- bum-fluff
- bum fluff
- bum-fluffed
- bumfodder
- bum fodder
- bumfoolery
- bumfreezer
- Bumfuck
- bumfuck
- bum-fuck nowhere
- bum fuck nowhere
- bum gun
- bum head
- bumhole
- bumload
- bumlord
- bum roll
- bum sex
- bumshoving
- bums in seats
- bum squabble
- bum-squabble
- bum squabbled
- bumster
- bumsters
- bumsucker
- bum-sucker
- bum-sucking
- bumtastic
- bumwad
- bum wine
- front bum
- head down, bum up
- kick up the bum
- land with one's bum in the butter
- pain in the bum
- shitbum
- squeaky bum time
- underbum
1864, back-formation from bummer, from German Bummler (“loafer”), from bummeln (“to loaf”).
bum (plural bums)
- (colloquial, sometimes derogatory) A homeless person, usually a man.
- Synonyms: tramp, vagrant, wanderer, vagabond; see also Thesaurus:vagabond
- (colloquial, sometimes derogatory) A lazy, incompetent, or annoying person, usually a man.
- Synonyms: loafer, bumpkin, footler; see also Thesaurus:idler
Fred is becoming a bum—he’s not even bothering to work more than once a month.
That mechanic’s a bum—he couldn’t fix a yo-yo.
That guy keeps interrupting the concert. Throw the bum out!
1987, “Fairytale of New York”, performed by The Pogues:
You’re a bum / You’re a punk / You’re an old slut on junk / Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed
1988, Michael Weikath (lyrics and music), “Keeper of the Seven Keys”, in Keeper of the Seven Keys: Part II, performed by Helloween:
Man who do you just think you are? / A silly bum with seven stars
- (colloquial, sports) A player or racer who often performs poorly.
Trade him to another team, he’s a bum!
- (colloquial) A drinking spree.
hobo
- Bulgarian: безделник (bg) m (bezdelnik), нехранимайко (bg) m (nehranimajko)
- Chinese:
- Dutch: landloper (nl) m, vagebond (nl) m, dakloze (nl) m, zwerver (nl) m
- Esperanto: vagabondo, trampo, vaganto, vagulo
- Finnish: hulttio (fi), pummi (fi), renttu (fi)
- French: vagabond (fr)
- German: Penner (de) m, Wohnsitzlose
- Hungarian: csavargó (hu)
- Italian: vagabondo (it) m, fannullone (it) m, barbone (it) m
- Japanese: 乞丐 (ja) (きつかい, kitsukai), くだらないやつ (kudaranai yatsu), ろくでなし (ja) (rokudenashi)
- Korean: 걸개(乞丐) (geolgae)
- Latin: planus m, errō (la) m
- Latvian: bomzis m
- Navajo: naʼałjidí
- Polish: bezdomny (pl) m, menel (pl) m (derogatory)
- Portuguese: sem-teto (pt) m or f
- Romanian: vagabond (ro) m, boschetar m (slang), aurolac m (slang)
- Russian: бомж (ru) m (bomž), попроша́йка (ru) m or f (poprošájka), бродя́га (ru) m or f (brodjága)
- Slovak: povaľač m, bezdomovec m, tulák m
- Spanish: vagabundo (es) m, vago (es) m
- Swedish: lodare (sv), lodis (sv), luffare (sv), uteliggare (sv) c
- Taos: tràmpiʼína
- Ukrainian: бомж (bomž)
bum (third-person singular simple present bums, present participle bumming, simple past and past participle bummed)
- (transitive, colloquial) To ask someone to give one (something) for free; to beg for something.
- Synonyms: (British) cadge; see also Thesaurus:scrounge
Can I bum a cigarette off you?
- (intransitive, colloquial) To stay idle and unproductive, like a hobo or vagabond.
- Synonym: loiter
I think I’ll just bum around downtown for a while until dinner.
- (transitive, slang, British) To wet the end of a marijuana cigarette (spliff).
to beg for something
to stay idle and unproductive
bum (comparative bummer, superlative bummest)
- (slang) Of poor quality or highly undesirable.
bum note
- (slang) Unfair.
a bum deal
- (slang) Injured and without the possibility of full repair, defective.
- Synonym: (UK) duff
I can’t play football anymore on account of my bum knee.
- (slang) Unpleasant or unhappy.
He had a bum trip on that mescaline.
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:bum.
of poor quality or highly undesirable
Back-formation from bum out.
bum (third-person singular simple present bums, present participle bumming, simple past and past participle bummed)
- To depress; to make unhappy.
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “bum”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
See boom.
bum (plural bums)
bum (third-person singular simple present bums, present participle bumming, simple past and past participle bummed)
- (intransitive) To make a murmuring or humming sound.
1722, William Hamilton, The Wallace:
English men bum there [Stirling] as thick as bees.
Abbreviation.
bum (plural bums)
- (obsolete) A bumbailiff.
1705, Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees:
About her Chariot, and behind, / Were Sergeants, Bums of every kind, / Tip-staffs, and all those Officers, / That squeeze a Living out of Tears.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 “bum”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- ^ “bum”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “bum”, in Online Etymology Dictionary. (which quotes the OED)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 John Stephen Farmer, William Ernest Henley, Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present: A Dictionary (1890), "bum"
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “bottom”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
From English boom with orthographic adaptation.
bum
From Dutch slagboom (“boom barrier, boom gate”) or boom (“beam, barrier, tree, pole”), from Middle Dutch bôom, from Old Dutch bōm, from Proto-Germanic *baumaz. Doublet of bom.
bum (first-person possessive bumku, second-person possessive bummu, third-person possessive bumnya)
From English boom, onomatopoeic.
bum (first-person possessive bumku, second-person possessive bummu, third-person possessive bumnya)
- “bum” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
bum m (genitive singular bum, nominative plural bumanna)
Irish mutation | ||
---|---|---|
Radical | Lenition | Eclipsis |
bum | bhum | mbum |
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. |
bum
bum
bum m inan
- Alternative form of bom
bum m inan
- Alternative form of boom
- Rhymes: -ũ
- Hyphenation: bum
bum!
- boom (sound of explosion)
bum m (plural buns)
- boom (a rapid expansion or increase)
2023, Djalma do Nascimento Sousa, chapter 145, in Memórias do Sul do Maranhão, Maranhão, published 2023, page VIII:
O "bum" do gado só veio com a crise do arroz no final de 80 para início de 90;
- The cattle boom only came with the rice crisis in the late 80s and early 90s;
bum
bum (Cyrillic spelling бум)
¡bum!
- boom (used to suggest the sound of an explosion)
- boom (used to suggest something happening suddenly and unexpectedly)
- “bum”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
bum m
bum
- Romanization of 𐌁𐌖𐌌
bum (nominative plural bums)
- act of building
- (North Wales) IPA(key): /bɨ̞m/
- (South Wales) IPA(key): /bɪm/
bum
- Soft mutation of pum (“five”).