Meaning & use
a man bun
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Meanings
nouncountableinformal
A hairstyle in which a man pulls his long hair back and ties it into a round knot at the back or top of his head.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a man bun' or 'man buns' for more than one.
Patterns
- have a man bun
- wear a man bun
- tie your hair into a man bun
- a man with a man bun
He grew his hair out for a year and now he wears a man bun.
At the party, half the guys had beards and man buns.
She said the man bun suited him better than his old short haircut.
nouncountableinformal
This hairstyle seen as a style or trend, especially among young men.
Grammar: Often used in the plural when talking about the trend in general: 'man buns are everywhere'.
Patterns
- man buns are popular
- the man bun trend
- man buns and beards
The man bun became popular again among young men in the 2010s.
Magazines kept writing about the man bun as if it were a new invention.
He jokes that his man bun is the only fashionable thing about him.
Word forms
| plural | man buns |
|---|
Common combinations
- wear a man bun
- He wears a man bun when he goes to the gym.
- grow a man bun
- It took him months to grow a man bun.
- tie your hair into a man bun
- She showed him how to tie his hair into a man bun.
- a neat man bun
- His neat man bun stayed in place all day.
- the man bun trend
- The man bun trend spread quickly on social media.
Synonyms and how they differ
- top knot
- A top knot is any knot of hair on top of the head and is not limited to men, so it is broader than 'man bun'.
- bun
- A bun is the general word for this tied knot of hair; 'man bun' only adds that the person wearing it is a man.
Word family
- bun noun
- A round knot of hair, or a small round bread roll.
- man-bunned adjective
- Informal and rare: having hair tied in a man bun.
Commonly confused: a man bun or top knot?
a man bun vs top knot
A top knot sits high on the head and can be worn by anyone; a man bun is simply a bun worn by a man and may sit lower at the back.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'a man bun' correctly?
Choose one answer.
A man bun is long hair tied into a knot, so tying the hair up fits. Shaving the head removes hair, a bakery item would be a bread bun, and a bun is not worn on the wrist.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “a man bun”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.