# bum
## English
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /bʌm/
* Audio (Canada):(file)
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Rhymes: -ʌm

### Etymology 1

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”).

#### Noun

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.

##### Usage notes

* 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.

##### Translations
#### Verb

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?

#### Interjection

bum
* (UK, Ireland, childish, euphemistic) An expression of annoyance.
    Synonym: arse (more vulgar)
** 2010, Jill Mansell, Sheer Mischief‎:Maxine tried hers. ‘Oh bum,’ she said crossly. ‘The sugar isn’t sugar. It’s salt.’

#### Derived terms

* bare-bum
* belfie
* builder's bum
* bum bag
* bum boy
* bumboy
* bum-breathing
* bum-bum
* bum bum
* bum burp
* bum cheeks
* bum chum
* bum cleavage
* bum-clock
* bum crack
* bum-fluff
* bum fluff
* bumfluff
* 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
* bum shuffle
* bums in seats
* bum-squabble
* bum squabble
* bum squabbled
* bumster
* bumsters
* bum-sucker
* bumsucker
* bum-sucking
* bumtastic
* bumwad
* bum wine
* face like a slapped bum
* face like a smacked bum
* 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

### Etymology 2

1864, back-formation from bummer, from German Bummler (“loafer”), from bummeln (“to loaf”).

#### Noun

bum (plural bums)
* (colloquial, sometimes derogatory) A homeless person, usually a man.
    Synonyms: street bum, 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, “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!
** 2001, Laura Hillenbrand, Seabiscuit: An American Legend:Seabiscuit, wrote another reporter, “was a hero in California and a pretty fair sort of horse in the midwest. In the east, however, he was just a ‘bumʼ”
* (colloquial) A drinking spree.
    Synonyms: binge, bender

##### Translations
#### Verb

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).

##### Descendants

* → French: bummer
* → Norwegian Nynorsk: bomma

##### Translations
#### Adjective

bum (comparative bummer, superlative bummest)
* (slang) Of poor quality or highly undesirable.
    bum note
** 1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 4:"So I can see my finish with that firm when this bum show is over." "Well, I think you're silly, the way you go out of your way to get McIntyre's goat. You do, don't deny it."
* (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.

##### Quotations

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

##### Derived terms

* bum trip

##### Translations
#### Derived terms

* beach bum
* bum around
* bum calf
* bum deal
* bum factory
* bumhood
* bummery
* bummy
* bum rap
* bum-rush
* bum rush
* bumsicle
* bum's rush
* bum steer
* corporate welfare bum
* on the bum
* saddle-bum
* saddle bum
* saddlebum
* shovelbum
* ski bum
* stewbum
* stumblebum
* welfare bum

### Etymology 3

Back-formation from bum out.

#### Verb

bum (third-person singular simple present bums, present participle bumming, simple past and past participle bummed)
* To depress; to make unhappy.

##### Usage notes

This expression is typically found in the passive voice or with the subject it. Thus one might use sentences such as
    It really bums me when it rains on a weekend.
    I get bummed every time my vacation ends.
But one would not normally say
    Mosquitos and horseflies bum me every time I go to the lake.

#### References

* Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “bum”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

### Etymology 4

See boom.

#### Noun

bum (plural bums)
* (dated) A humming noise.

#### Verb

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.

#### Derived terms

* bumble

### Etymology 5

Abbreviation.

#### Noun

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.

##### Derived terms

* bumbailiff
* bumtrap

#### References

* 1 2 3 “bum”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
* ↑ “bum”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
* 1 2 Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “bum”, in Online Etymology Dictionary. (which quotes the OED)
* 1 2 John Stephen Farmer, William Ernest Henley, Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present: A Dictionary (1890), "bum"
* ↑ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “bottom”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

### Anagrams

* MBU, UMB, umb, umb-

## Albanian
### Etymology

From English boom with orthographic adaptation.

### Noun

bum
* (economics) boom

## Indonesian
### Pronunciation

* (Standard Indonesian) IPA: /ˈbum/ [ˈbum]
* Rhymes: -um
* Syllabification: bum

### Etymology 1

From Dutch slagboom (“boom barrier, boom gate”) or boom (“beam, barrier, tree, pole”). Doublet of bom.

#### Alternative forms

* bom

#### Noun

bum (plural bum-bum)
* boom barrier, boom gate (a bar or pole that can be lowered or raised to controll the traffic)
* (figurative) customs (government agency that handles taxes of imported goods)
    Synonyms: bea cukai, duane, pabean

### Etymology 2

From English boom, a onomatopoeic word.

#### Noun

bum
* (economics, business) boom (a period of prosperity, growth, progress, or high market activity)

### Further reading

* “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.

## Irish
### Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

### Noun

bum m (genitive singular bum, nominative plural bumanna)
* (sailing) boom

#### Declension

bare forms
singular
plural
nominative
bum
bumanna
vocative
a bhum
a bhumanna
genitive
bum
bumanna
dative
bum
bumanna
forms with the definite article
singular
plural
nominative
an bum
na bumanna
genitive
an bhum
na mbumanna
dative
leis an mbum don bhum
leis na bumanna :

#### Synonyms

* crann scóide
* bumaile

### Mutation

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish. All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

## Mizo
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /bum/

### Verb

bum
* swindle
* cheat
* trick

## Polish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈbum/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -um
* Syllabification: bum
* Homophone: boom

### Etymology 1

Onomatopoeic.

#### Interjection

bum
* boom (sound of explosion)
* bang (any brief, sharp, loud noise)

### Etymology 2

Borrowed from Dutch boom.

#### Noun

bum m inan
* Alternative form of bom

##### Declension
### Etymology 3

Borrowed from English boom.

#### Noun

bum m inan
* Alternative form of boom

##### Declension
### Further reading

* bum I in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
* bum II in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
* bum in Polish dictionaries at PWN

## Portuguese
### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈbũ/
* (Portugal) IPA: /ˈbũ/
* Rhymes: -ũ
* Hyphenation: bum

### Etymology 1

Onomatopoeic.

#### Interjection

bum!
* boom (sound of explosion)

### Etymology 2

From English boom.

#### Noun

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;

## Romanian
### Etymology

Onomatopoeic.

### Interjection

bum
* boom

## Serbo-Croatian
### Verb

bum (Cyrillic spelling бум)
* (Kajkavian) first-person singular future of biti

## Spanish
### Etymology

Onomatopoeic.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈbum/ [ˈbũm]
* Rhymes: -um
* Syllabification: bum

### Interjection

¡bum!
* boom (used to suggest the sound of an explosion)
* boom (used to suggest something happening suddenly and unexpectedly)

#### See also

* pum
* pop

### Further reading

* “bum”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

## Transylvanian Saxon
### Noun

bum m
* tree

### References

* Siebenbürger Sachsen

## Umbrian
### Romanization

bum
* Romanization of 𐌁𐌖𐌌

## Volapük
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /bum/

### Noun

bum (nominative plural bums)
* act of building

#### Declension

$^1$ status as a case is disputed $^2$ in later, non-classical Volapük only

#### Derived terms

* bumäd
* bumot

## Welsh
### Pronunciation

* (North Wales) IPA: /bɨ̞m/
* (South Wales) IPA: /bɪm/

### Numeral

bum
* Soft mutation of pum (“five”).

### Mutation

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh. All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.