bunny

bunny · noun, adjective¹

1. Scottish Gaelicbunder.?
2. Scotsbunbor.?
3. Englishbun
4. English todaybunny

From bun (“rabbit”) + -y (diminutive suffix). Probably from Scottish Gaelic bun (“bottom, butt, stump, stub”), from Old Irish bun (“the thick end of anything, base, butt, foot”), from Proto-Celtic *bonus, though its origin is uncertain. Compare also English bum. Together with rabbit, bunny has largely displaced its former rhyme cony (see cony for more).

bunny · noun²

1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*bungô
2. Frankish · derived from*bungjo“swelling, bump”
3. Old French · derived frombugne
4. Middle English · inherited frombony
5. English todaybunny

From Middle English bony, boni (“swelling, tumor”), from Old French bugne, buigne (“swelling, lump”), from Old Frankish *bungjo (“swelling, bump”), from Proto-Germanic *bungô, *bunkô (“lump, clump, heap, crowd”). More at bunion, bunch.

bunny · noun³

1. Old English · inherited frombune“cup, beaker, drinking vessel; reed, cane”
2. Middle English · inherited frombune“hollow stalk or stem, drinking straw”
3. English todaybunny

From Middle English bune (“hollow stalk or stem, drinking straw”), from Old English bune (“cup, beaker, drinking vessel; reed, cane”), of unknown origin. Related to English bun, boon (“the stalk of flax or hemp less the fibre”), Scots bune, boon, been, see bun, boon. Compare also bunweed.

bunny · adjective⁴

1. Scottish Gaelicbunder.?
2. Scotsbunbor.?
3. Englishbun
4. English todaybunny

From bun (“small bread roll”) + -y.

Bunny · proper noun⁵

From bunny, after the group’s rabbit motif.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• since the 1960s, but always rare Resembling a bun (small bread roll).