bungo

Syllables: bun·go/ˈbʊŋɡəʊ/

bungo noun: a Japanese written language established mainly during the Heian period, circa 900–1200 C.E., and commonly used until circa 1900.

Noun (1)

bungo (uncountable)

A Japanese written language established mainly during the Heian period, circa 900–1200 C.E., and commonly used until circa 1900.

Synonyms:

Classical Japanese

bungo (plural bungos or bungoes)

A kind of large canoe used in the southern United States, Central America, and South America.
- On the third day a bungo passed us, coming down the river from New Grenada, with a cargo and passengers to Santa Martha and the parts adjacent1828, an officer of the Colombian Navy, Recollections of a Service of Three Years During the War-of-Extermination
- He and a number of others bought a bungo (a large canoe), and in it actually started for San Francisco, a distance of more than three thousand miles. The party chose for leader one Chris. Lilly, a pugilist, […]2005, William Harwar Parker, Recollections of a Confederate Naval Officer, Digital Antiquaria, →ISBN, page 159
A large sailboat once used in Mexico.

Borrowed from Japanese 文(ぶん)語(ご) (bungo, “writing language”).

Borrowed from Spanish bongo (“large canoe”).

What does bungo mean?: Bungo means a Japanese written language established mainly during the Heian period, circa 900–1200 C.E., and commonly used until circa 1900.
What part of speech is bungo?: Bungo is a noun.
How do you pronounce bungo?: Bungo is pronounced /ˈbʊŋɡəʊ/.
What is the plural of bungo?: The plural of bungo is bungos.

Adapted from Wiktionary: bungo (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: 2026-09-02

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