Buss
/bʌs/noun
A kiss, especially a brief or old-fashioned one.
Did you know?“Buss” is an old English word for a kiss that appears in literature from the 1500s, and it later became largely archaic except in dialect and poetic use.
Etymological Timeline
Middle English / Early Modern English
English
buss
“a kiss; to kiss”
16th Century
English
buss
“used in speech and writing for a kiss, often affectionate or playful”
Late Middle English
English
bussen
“to kiss”
Uncertain Germanic origin
Germanic
*bus- / *buss-
“likely an expressive or imitative root connected with kissing or smacking sounds”