Bunion
noun, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A bump or bulge on the first joint of the big toe caused by the swelling of a sac of fluid under the skin.
- 2 a painful swelling of the bursa of the first joint of the big toe wordnet
- 3 Hallux valgus, deviation of the big toe from its normal position towards the other toes, the prime cause for the swelling of its first joint. broadly, colloquial
Example
More examples"The bunion on my left foot is rubbing up against the inside of my shoe."
Etymology
From alteration of earlier bunny (“lump, swelling”), from Middle English bony, boni (“bunion, swelling”), perhaps Italian bubbone (augmented form of bugno (“beehive”)), or more likely from Lombard bugnon (“bunyon”), all three from Old French bugne, buigne, bune (“bump, knob, swelling”), from Old Norse bunga (“an elevation, bulge”) or Frankish *bungjō (“a swelling, lump, bump”), both from Proto-Germanic *bungô, *bunkô (“lump, clump, heap, crowd”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰenǵʰ- (“thick, dense, fat”). Cognate with Dutch bonk (“lump, clump”), German Bunge (“swelling, tuber”).
Related phrases
More for "bunion"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.