any of a wide variety of variously shaped bread rolls, usually leavened and slightly sweetened or plain, sometimes containing spices, dried currants, etc.
hair gathered into a round coil or knot at the nape of the neck or on top of the head in certain coiffures.
Slang. buns, the buttocks.
a small roll, similar to bread but usually containing sweetening, currants, spices, etc
any of various types of small round sweet cakes
a hairstyle in which long hair is gathered into a bun shape at the back of the head
slang to be pregnant
1325–75; Middle English bunne, possibly of Romance origin; see also buñuelo ( def. )
First recorded in 1900–05; of uncertain origin
First recorded in 1915–20
A bun is a small roll, usually made of wheat flour and baked in an oven. You might bake a batch of buns for a breakfast treat on Sunday mornings. Some people celebrate spring or the Easter holidays by making hot cross buns, sweet rolls with currants or raisins and light frosting. Because buns are commonly small and round, the hairstyle that involves a tight coil of hair on the top or back of the head is also called a bun. The origin is probably the French buignete, "a fritter," which had the unpleasant original meaning of "a boil" or "a skin swelling."
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I use it two days later to buy a loaf of rye bread, plus pastries for Salmon and me: ham-and-cheese croissant, cinnamon bun.
From Slate • May 10, 2026
In March, it rolled out Big Arch—a limited-time, large-format burger that features two quarter-pound beef patties, white cheddar cheese, crispy onions, pickles, and a tangy new sauce on a toasted sesame-poppy seed bun.
From Barron's • Apr. 21, 2026
During the Depression, he said, restaurateurs “really had to stretch food,” and smashing the meat made it fill out the bun.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2026
"But I quite like the hot cross bun with a bit of apple."
From BBC • Mar. 27, 2026
She’s around my age, with two pencils sticking from a bun of reddish-blond hair.
From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
