bum

CEFRB2

/bʌm/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A person's buttocks; an informal word.

  2. 02

    noun

    A lazy person or someone without a home.

Examples

  • Look at that one there. He's such a lazy bum!

  • Of course you can trust me. Have I ever given you a bum steer before?

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. An act of anal sex.

  2. The anus.

  3. The buttocks.

More examples

In context

  • For quotations using this term, see Citations:bum.

  • Okay, everyone sit on your bum and try and touch your toes.

  • I'm a good-for-nothing bum.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

He decided to blank a cigarette from a stranger outside the store.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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.