What does boun mean?
Boun is an archaic English word meaning ready, prepared, or resolved to go — essentially an older cousin of the modern 'bound'. A traveller who was boun for London was packed, willing, and on the point of departure. The word entered Middle English from Old Norse, where the participle of búa ('to prepare, to make ready') yielded forms describing someone outfitted and set for a journey. It flourished in medieval and early modern poetry precisely because it offered a convenient rhyme with words like 'town' and 'down', and it lingered in northern English and Scots dialect long after standard usage had settled on 'bound'. Today boun is essentially a literary fossil: you will meet it in historical novels, ballads, and dialect writing rather than everyday conversation. Its interest lies in that survival — a compact reminder of how Norse settlement left permanent traces in the vocabulary of readiness and departure.
adjectiveAn archaic and dialectal word meaning ready, prepared, or resolved to go; it survives chiefly in older poetry and regional speech as a variant of 'bound'.
- Ready or prepared, especially for a journey or departure.
- Resolved or determined to go somewhere; destined or on one's way.
"The travellers were early boun for the coast, their packs shouldered before dawn."
"By first light the whole family was boun for the market town."
"He was boun to leave whatever the weather said, and nothing could hold him back."
Before 'bound' took over the job, poets said a traveller was 'boun' — a ready-made rhyme for 'town' that Chaucer's world actually used.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of boun
Boun comes from Middle English, borrowed from Old Norse búinn, the past participle of búa meaning 'to prepare, make ready, or inhabit'. This Scandinavian root also gave English 'bound' in its sense of heading toward a destination, as well as words connected to dwelling such as 'bower'; the related noun bóndi ('dweller, farmer') lies behind 'husband'. Boun was common in medieval and Renaissance verse, valued partly for its handy rhymes, and gradually gave way to the standardised 'bound', surviving longest in Scottish and northern English dialect.
How boun is actually used
Archaic and literary; today 'boun' appears almost exclusively in historical fiction, folk verse, or northern British and Scots dialect. In any modern context, 'bound' or 'ready' is the natural choice.
Easily confused with boun
'Bound' is the standard modern word for heading toward or tied/restrained, while 'boun' is the older dialectal and poetic variant of the same idea, now largely obsolete.
'Boon' means a benefit or favour (or, adjectivally, something convivial like a boon companion), whereas 'boun' describes being ready or prepared.