Bum Meaning
/bʌm/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounThe buttocks.
nounThe anus.
Sentence Examples
Of course you can trust me. Have I ever given you a bum steer before?
I'm a good-for-nothing bum.
Look at that one there. He's such a lazy bum!
CEFR Practice Quiz
He decided to ____ a cigarette from a stranger outside the store.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He felt like a ____ as he sat on the city park bench with no job today.
Word Origin & History
Attested since the 1300s, as Middle English bom (found in John Trevisa's 1387 Translation of the 'Polychronicon' of Ranulph Higden, "his bom is oute"), of uncertain origin. 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. Suggested by some old and modern references to be onomatopoeic. Compare also Old Irish, Scottish Gaelic bun (“base, bottom”). The anal sex senses (noun and verb), as well as the adjective (esp. the first) sense, are expletive-avoiding (i.e. Bowdlerized) shortenings of bumfuck.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"John said that when he was little he stuck his finger in his bum and tasted his poopies and it was good."
— 2013, Steven L. Ablon, Daniel P. Brown, Edward J. Khantzian, Human Feelings: Explorations in Affect Development and Meaning, page 132:
"What could the man possibly be hiding up his bum anyway?"
— 2015, Jonathan Nicholas, Who'd be a copper?: Thirty years a frontline British cop:
"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])?"
— 2016, Lisa Keenan-Lindsay, Cheryl Sams, Constance L. O'Connor, Maternal Child Nursing Care in Canada, page 118:
"[…] and said Daddy had put a finger up her bum."
— 2017, Jean Renvoize, Innocence Destroyed: A Study of Child Sexual Abuse:
"Your bars are fake and my bars are real; / Is it true you got bummed on a field?"
— 2016 December 3, “Soph Aspin Send”, performed by Millie B:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
He decided to ____ a cigarette from a stranger outside the store.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He felt like a ____ as he sat on the city park bench with no job today.