bullying

English

An example of bullying.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbʊl.i.ɪŋ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Etymology 1

From bully +‎ -ing.

Noun

bullying (countable and uncountable, plural bullyings)

1. An act of intimidating a person to do something, especially such repeated coercion.
   • 2025 March 13, Scott Neuman, Willem Marx, “https://www.npr.org/2025/03/13/nx-s1-5325949/greenland-elections-trump-independence”, in NPR:

     [Greenland's current Prime Minister Múte] Egede has insisted that Greenland is not for sale and he framed the polling partly as a referendum on Trump's seemingly bellicose bullying, saying the election was a "fateful choice."

2. Persistent acts intended to make life unpleasant for another person.

   Bullying is a punishable offense in schools.

Derived terms

• antibullying
• bullyingly
• counterbullying
• cyberbullying
• e-bullying
• nonbullying
• prebullying
• unbullying

Descendants

• → Polish: bullying
• → Portuguese: bullying
• → Russian: буллинг (bulling)
• → Spanish: bullying

Translations

act of intimidating a person

• Arabic: إِرْهَاب m (ʔirhāb), تَنَمُّر m (tanammur)
• Czech: šikana (cs) f, šikanování n
• Esperanto: ĉikanado
• Finnish: kiusaaminen (fi), pakottaminen (fi)
• French: harcèlement (fr) m
• Georgian: ჩაგვრა (čagvra), შევიწროება (ševic̣roeba), დაშინება (dašineba), ძალადობა (ʒaladoba), დევნა (devna)
• German: Schikanieren n, Schikane (de) f, Drangsalieren n
• Greek: νταηλίκι (el) n (ntaïlíki)
• Guaraní: ñembosarái
• Irish: bulaíocht f
• Italian: bullismo (it) m
• Japanese: 嫌がらせ (ja) (いやがらせ, iyagarase)
• Korean: 괴롭힘 (ko) (goerophim), 핍박(逼迫) (ko) (pipbak)
• Macedonian: застрашување n (zastrašuvanje)
• Polish: znęcanie się (pl) n
• Portuguese: bullying (pt) m, vexação f, assédio (pt) m, abuso (pt) m, intimidação (pt)
• Russian: запу́гивание (ru) n (zapúgivanije)
• Scottish Gaelic: burraidheachd f
• Slovak: šikanovanie (sk) n
• Spanish: vejación (es) f, ultraje (es) m, acoso (es) m, hostigamiento (es) m, bullying m (búliin), matonaje m, matonismo m, buleo m
• Ukrainian: знущання n (znuščannja)

persistent acts intended to make life unpleasant

• Arabic: تَنَمُّر m (tanammur)
• Armenian: ահաբեկում (hy) (ahabekum), ահաբեկչություն (hy) (ahabekčʻutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: zorbalıq
• Belarusian: цкава́нне n (ckavánnje), бу́лінг m (búlinh)
• Bulgarian: тормо́з (bg) m (tormóz), поти́скане (bg) n (potískane)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 欺負 / 欺负 (zh) (qīfu), 恃強欺弱 / 恃强欺弱 (zh) (shìqiángqīruò), 恃強凌弱 (zh) (shìqiánglíngruò), 欺凌 (zh) (qīlíng), 霸凌 (zh) (bàlíng)

• Czech: šikana (cs) f, šikanování n
• Danish: mobning (da) c
• Esperanto: ĉikanado
• Finnish: kiusaaminen (fi)
• French: harcèlement (fr) m
• Georgian: ბულინგი (bulingi), ჩაგვრა (čagvra), შევიწროება (ševic̣roeba), დაშინება (dašineba), ძალადობა (ʒaladoba), დევნა (devna)
• German: Mobbing (de) n, Mobben n, Piesacken n, Piesackerei f, Drangsalieren n, Tyrannisieren n
• Greenlandic: malersuineq
• Icelandic: einelti (is) n
• Irish: bulaíocht f
• Japanese: いじめ (ja) (ijime), 嫌がらせ (ja) (いやがらせ, iyagarase)
• Korean: 괴롭힘 (ko) (goerophim), 이지메 (ijime)
• Latvian: ņirgāšanās f
• Macedonian: задевање n (zadevanje)
• Persian: قلدری (fa) (qoldori)
• Polish: bullying (pl) m, znęcanie się (pl) n
• Portuguese: bullying (pt) m
• Russian: издева́тельства (ru) n pl (izdevátelʹstva), (army) дедовщи́на (ru) f (dedovščína), задира́ние (ru) n (zadiránije), тра́вля (ru) f (trávlja), бу́ллинг (ru) m (búlling)
• Scottish Gaelic: burraidheachd f
• Serbo-Croatian: vršnjačko nasilje n
• Slovak: šikanovanie (sk) n
• Slovene: ustrahovanje n
• Spanish: bullying m (búliin), mobbing m (mobin), buleo m, lorneo m (Peru)
• Swedish: mobbning (sv) c
• Turkish: zorbalık (tr)
• Ukrainian: знуща́ння n (znuščánnja), цькува́ння (uk) n (cʹkuvánnja), бу́лінг m (búlinh)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Irish: ^{(please verify)} ceanntrom m
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} いじめ (ja) (ijime)

See also

• abuse
• mobbing

Etymology 2

From bully +‎ -ing.

Verb

bullying

1. present participle and gerund of bully

Further reading

• bullying on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English bullying.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbu.liŋk/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uliŋk
• Syllabification: bu‧llying

Noun

bullying m inan

1. bullying (persistent acts intended to make life unpleasant)

   Synonym: znęcanie się

Declension

Declension of bullying

	singular
nominative	bullying
genitive	bullyingu
dative	bullyingowi
accusative	bullying
instrumental	bullyingiem
locative	bullyingu
vocative	bullyingu

Further reading

• bullying in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• bullying in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• búlingue (adapted form)

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English bullying.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈbu.lĩ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈbu.lĩ.ɡɨ/

Noun

bullying m (uncountable)

1. bullying (persistent acts intended to make someone’s life unpleasant)

Derived terms

• bullyinar (“to bully”)

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English bullying.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbuliin/ [ˈbu.li.ĩn]
• Rhymes: -uliin

Noun

bullying m (uncountable)

1. bullying

   Synonyms: acoso escolar, hostigamiento escolar

   ¡No me hagas bullying! ― Don't bully me!

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

See also

• mobbing

Further reading

• “bullying”, in Diccionario panhispánico de dudas [Panhispanic Dictionary of Doubts] (in Spanish), 2nd edition, Royal Spanish Academy; Association of Academies of the Spanish Language, 2023, →ISBN
• Acoso, mejor que bullying, bulleo o buleo | FundéuRAE
• acosar, mejor que bullear | FundéuRAE
• «acoso», mejor que «bullying» y «mobbing» | FundéuRAE