bun

/bən/

/bən/

Other forms: buns

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."

Definitions of bun

1. noun

   small rounded bread either plain or sweet
   synonyms: roll

   types:

   tea bread

   sweetened buns to be eaten with tea

   frankfurter bun, hotdog bun

   a long bun shaped to hold a frankfurter

   hamburger bun, hamburger roll

   a round bun shaped to hold a hamburger patty

   brioche

   a light roll rich with eggs and butter and somewhat sweet

   crescent roll, croissant

   very rich flaky crescent-shaped roll

   Vienna roll, hard roll

   yeast-raised roll with a hard crust

   soft roll

   yeast-raised roll with a soft crust

   kaiser, kaiser roll

   rounded raised poppy-seed roll made of a square piece of dough by folding the corners in to the center

   Parker House roll

   yeast-raised dinner roll made by folding a disk of dough before baking

   clover-leaf roll

   yeast-raised dinner roll made by baking three small balls of dough in each cup of a muffin pan

   onion roll

   yeast-raised roll flavored with onion

   coffee roll, sweet roll

   any of numerous yeast-raised sweet rolls with our without raisins or nuts or spices or a glaze

   bagel, beigel

   (Yiddish) glazed yeast-raised doughnut-shaped roll with hard crust

   cross bun, hot cross bun

   moderately sweet raised roll containing spices and raisins and citron and decorated with a cross-shaped sugar glaze

   bialy, bialystoker

   flat crusty-bottomed onion roll

   bear claw, bear paw

   almond-flavored yeast-raised pastry shaped in an irregular semicircle resembling a bear's claw

   cinnamon bun, cinnamon roll, cinnamon snail

   rolled dough spread with cinnamon and sugar (and raisins) then sliced before baking

   caramel bun, honey bun, schnecken, sticky bun

   rolled dough spread with sugar and nuts then sliced and baked in muffin tins with honey or sugar and butter in the bottom

   pinwheel roll

   pinwheel-shaped rolls spread with cinnamon and sugar and filled with e.g. jam before baking

   danish, danish pastry

   light sweet yeast-raised roll usually filled with fruits or cheese

   onion bagel

   bagel flavored with onion

   type of:

   bread, breadstuff, staff of life

   food made from dough of flour or meal and usually raised with yeast or baking powder and then baked