buns
Buns is slang for bad, weak or poor quality, as in "that game is buns". Said to a person, "you're buns" calls them unskilled, so it works as a roast.
By Cal Hewitt, Gen X ·
What it means
When buns describes a game, a movie, a meal or a team, it is a negative review. "That movie was buns", "the food was buns" and "our defense was buns tonight" all mean the thing was bad or disappointing. Slang.net defines it as terrible, disappointing or bad, with examples about films, teams, games and food, and describes it as a milder stand-in for a vulgar word for the rear end, which is why it passes in mixed company and on platforms with moderation rules. The weight changes with the target. "That play was buns" criticizes a result. "You're buns" criticizes the person, usually their skill at something, and it stings more. Between friends and teammates it is teasing. From a stranger in a competitive game it can be hostile, and the same reporting and muting options apply as for any other insult in chat. In strength it sits somewhere near "trash" or "lame", and it is harsher than "mid": a film that was fine but forgettable is mid, and a film you walked out of is buns. Buns also keeps its ordinary meanings. Oxford Learner's Dictionaries lists bread rolls, a hairstyle in the singular bun, and a North American slang sense for the two sides of a person's bottom. The noun and the verb around the word sort them out: "the game is buns" is a quality judgment, "put the burgers in the buns" is bread, and "she wore her hair in buns" is hair. After "is" or "was" and next to a game, a meal, a performance or a team, it means bad.
How to use it
“that movie was buns, i want my two hours back”
A review. The speaker rates a result as bad.
“our defense was buns tonight”
Sports talk. It criticizes the performance.
“you're buns at this game”
Aimed at a person's skill. Teasing between friends, hostile from a stranger.
“honestly the pizza was buns”
Food review. Nobody's body is being discussed.
Where it came from
The bad-quality sense sits on top of the older body word, and it follows the same pattern as "ass", "butt" and "cheeks" as put-downs. A softer stand-in for "ass" is documented early: the 1999 script for South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut has Mr. Mackey's song proposing "buns" as a replacement for "ass". That is a substitution joke, and it does not use buns to mean bad.
The quality sense appears on Urban Dictionary by 2008. A December 9, 2008 entry defines buns as soft, weak or wack and gives the example "Yo this party is Buns". The same entry says the term "Was made in NY". Slang.net repeats the New York link and says the word spread through gaming communities, TikTok, X and group chats. In 2020 the student blog Bwog listed buns as an adjective synonymous with "ass", meaning bad or of poor quality, with the example "That movie was buns".
No single coiner is documented, and the New York attribution is one user's account. The record shows a word that was already in circulation well before TikTok, which makes it both older slang and current slang.
No single person is credited, the origin is commonly reported.
Where it's popular
Gaming voice and text chat, sports talk, group chats, TikTok comments and X. Slang.net and a 2008 Urban Dictionary entry both link it to New York.
How it caught on
- 1999The South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut script has a song proposing "buns" as a replacement for "ass".
- December 9, 2008Urban Dictionary entry defines buns as soft, weak or wack, with the example "Yo this party is Buns".
- November 8, 2020The student blog Bwog lists "buns" as an adjective synonymous with "ass", meaning bad or of poor quality.
Test yourself
Is it buns or is it bread?
0/21. A teammate types "that last play was buns". What do they mean?
2. Which sentence uses buns for something other than "bad"?
// the shop Shop LOST IN TRANSLATION shirts and hoodies for families who speak two kinds of slang
Related slang
More word guides
How every generation says it
Questions people ask
What does "got buns" mean in slang?
That one is the body meaning. Oxford Learner's Dictionaries lists buns as North American slang for the two sides of a person's bottom, so "got buns" is a comment on someone's bottom. It is a different use from "that game is buns", where the word means bad.
What does "ur buns" mean?
It means "you're bad at this". Said to a person, it is an insult about skill or performance. Between friends it is teasing, and from a stranger in a match it can read as hostile.
What does bun mean in Urban Dictionary?
Urban Dictionary's December 9, 2008 entry for buns defines it as soft, weak or wack, with the example "Yo this party is Buns". Newer entries use it the same way for something bad.
What does buns mean in Gen Z slang?
Bad, weak or disappointing, said about a game, a movie, a meal or a team. Slang.net says it spread through gaming communities, TikTok, X and group chats.
Is buns the same as mid?
No. Mid means average or underwhelming, and buns means clearly bad. A friend who calls your cooking mid thought it was fine, and one who calls it buns did not like it.
Is buns an insult in games?
Said about a play, it criticizes the result. Said to a player, as in "you're buns", it is an insult about their skill. In a friendly lobby a quick joke back works, and in a hostile one you can mute the player or report them.
The 1999 South Park movie script has a song proposing "buns" as a substitute for "ass", nine years before the earliest Urban Dictionary entry that uses buns to mean bad.
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