A group of similar things held together, like bananas on a stem, or an informal word for a group of people.
From Middle English and possibly from Old English 'bunce.' The origin is uncertain but may be related to the idea of swelling or bulging. By the 1500s it clearly meant items grouped together, and later extended to groups of people.
The word 'bunch' is interesting because English lets you call both three bananas AND five friends a 'bunch'—but other languages often have completely different words depending on what you're grouping, showing how English is exceptionally flexible about categories.
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