Bulk

How to spell bulk

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce bulk

What does bulk mean?

1. nounThe large size, mass, or volume of something.
2. verbTo increase in size or quantity, or to make something appear larger.

Bulk in a sentence

• noun

  The sheer bulk of the wardrobe made it hard to move upstairs.

• verb

  Extra padding can bulk out a thin winter coat.

• noun

  Buying rice in bulk saves money for a big household.

• verb

  Unpaid invoices began to bulk up in the accounts folder.

Where does bulk come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

Bulk comes from the Old Norse word bulki, which meant a ship's cargo or a heap of goods stowed in the hold. Norse traders and settlers brought the term into English in the medieval period, where it first described the mass of merchandise carried in a vessel, hence the surviving phrase 'to break bulk', meaning to begin unloading a ship's cargo. The spelling and meaning were reinforced by an older English word, bouk, which referred to the trunk or belly of the body, so the two blended into the idea of sheer size or mass. From there the sense broadened to mean the greater part of anything, as in 'the bulk of the work'. The compact, four-letter shape with its hard final k has stayed remarkably stable, which is why it gives modern writers almost no trouble.

How the word is built

• bulk (single root from Old Norse bulki 'cargo, heap'); no prefix or suffix