Word.ws English Dictionary

bund

/bʊnd/

bund noun: a league or confederacy; especially the confederation of German states. Also the alternative form of bandh.

Noun (1)

bund (plural bunds)

  1. A league or confederacy; especially the confederation of German states.
  2. A group of foreign sympathizers of Nazi Germany, most notoriously before and during World War II.

Noun (2)

IPA/bʌnd/

bund (plural bunds)

  1. A secondary enclosure, typically consisting of a wall or berm, which surrounds a tank or fluid-handling mechanism, intended to contain any spills or leaks.
    • The most important of these [secondary containment] provisions are bunds, which are enclosures capable of holding liquids that may escape from the vessels and pipes within the bund wall.2006 January, “The Buncefield investigation - second progress report”, in Buncefield investigation (PDF), archived from the original on 14 Apr 2006, page 4
  2. (India) A perennial ("wet") or seasonal ("dry") pond constructed in a depression and in which fish are stored, typically for breeding.
  3. An embankment.
    • It is pleasant to see the Chinese domestics and their families; or native ladies dressed in silks, their glossy hair held in by a broad black velvet band with a spray of pearls in front, being propelled along the bund in their hand-carts; but they are not used among Europeans, excepting after dark.1875, John Thomson, The Straits of Malacca, Indo-China, and China, page 408
    • A massive opening in the bund (embankment), specifically there to screen the quarry from view, was needed, along with a Midland Railway-style bridge carrying a historic bridleway.2021 November 17, Mark Rand, “Reconnecting rail freight to S&C quarries”, in RAIL, number 944, page 54

Verb

IPA/bʌnd/

bund (third-person singular simple present bunds, present participle bunding, simple past and past participle bunded)

  1. To provide berms or other secondary enclosures to guard against accidental fluid spills within.
    • Plant room floors are generally bunded and/or waterproofed to contain any leaks or spillages of liquids and fluids from faulty tanks, plant or pipe work.2020 December 1 (last accessed), “Plant Room Waterproofing & Tanking”, in RIW

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Bund

The Bund

  1. A waterfront area in central Shanghai.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Bund

IPA/bʌnd/

the Bund

  1. (historical) The General Jewish Labour Bund, a secular Jewish socialist party in the Russian Empire.
  2. Any related movements in other countries, such as the still-existing Australian Bund, etc.

Proper noun (3) capitalized: Bund

Bund (usually uncountable, plural Bunds)

  1. (usually) A bond issued by the German federal government.

Also used as

bund is also the alternative form of bandh.

Forms of bund

Noun
pluralbunds
Verb
third-person singular presentbunds
present participlebunding
past participlebunded
pastbunded
Proper noun
pluralBunds

Plural of bund: bunds

Origin of bund

From German Bund (“alliance, league”). Doublet of Bund, bond, and band.

From Hindustani بند / बंद (band), from Classical Persian بند (band).

Variant of bandh, from Hindi बंध (bandh); see that entry for more. Doublet of etymology 2 above.

Words formed from bund

Words that rhyme with bund

Questions about bund

What does bund mean?
Bund means a league or confederacy; especially the confederation of German states.
What part of speech is bund?
Bund can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce bund?
Bund is pronounced /bʊnd/.
What is the plural of bund?
The plural of bund is bunds.

Words near bund in the dictionary

  1. buncoing
  2. buncombe
  3. Buncombe County
  4. buncos
  5. Buncrana
  6. bund
  7. bunda
  8. Bundabah
  9. Bundaberg
  10. Bundabergian
  11. Bundagen

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bund (page history and authors); Bund (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-bund.wav.

Cite this entry: “bund.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bund. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.