Easter Bunny

English

Etymology

From Easter +‎ bunny, calque of German Osterhase (literally “Easter hare”).

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈiːs.tə ˈbʌ.ni/
(US) IPA^(key): /ˈiːs.tɚ ˈbʌ.ni/

Proper noun

Easter Bunny (plural Easter Bunnies)

An Easter Bunny.

A symbolic rabbit sometimes depicted delivering Easter eggs to children.
- 1905 April 1, Mary Dawson, “An Easter Bunny Party”, in Good Housekeeping, volume 40, page 461:
  An Easter Bunny Party
- 1915 April 1, The Christian Advocate, volume 90, page 438:
  One day the old Easter Bunny looked out of his winter covert and Said to his Bunny-wife, who was busy coloring Easter eggs, “It is high time we set out to look for the Easter Lily.”
- 2005, Danie Martin, Always Another Mountain: A Woman Hiking the Appalachian Trail from Springer Mountain to Mount Katahdin, Virtualbookworm Publishing, →ISBN, page 35:
  Soon I ran into two Easter Bunnies who gave me candy. Honest! All right, it was really two women wearing pink bunny hoods.
- 2006 March 16, Bryan Thompson, “I Want My Mummy”, in Totally Spies!, season 2, episode 2, Teletoon, Marathon Media, spoken by Alexandra “Alex” (Jennifer Hale as Samantha “Sam”; Katie Leigh):
  Yeah, remember? We’re Spies, we deal in fact, not chasing after Easter Bunnies.
  Yeah, right. Wait the Easter Bunny’s missing? A-ha-ha! Just kidding, guys! I know the Easter Bunny is tucked away safe in his little toadstool house up in the fjords of British Columbia.
- 2014, Margy Johnson, Start Your Own Costume Character Business & Make Great Money Working at Home, Xlibris, →ISBN, page 73:
  Easter Bunnies can be booked for businesses (such as Malls), for churches, for community Easter Egg Hunts or even as a preferred birthday party costume character for a birthday that falls close to Easter.
- 2016, Kimberley Kinder, DIY Detroit: Making Do in a City without Services, University of Minnesota Press, →ISBN:
  Some residents rotated decorations seasonally by displaying holiday wreaths in the winter and plastic Easter Bunnies and pinwheels in the spring.
- 2016, Richard J. Gonzales, “Conclusion”, in Raza Rising: Chicanos in North Texas, University of North Texas Press, →ISBN, page 287:
  Two costumed Easter Bunnies, handing out plastic, candy-filled eggs and hugging children, hopped in our ranks.

Synonyms

Easter Rabbit

Translations

Symbolic rabbit sometimes depicted delivering Easter eggs to children

Central Franconian: Osterhaas
Chinese:
Mandarin: 復活節兔／复活节兔 (Fùhuójié tù)
Danish: påskehare (da) c
Dutch: paashaas (nl) m
Esperanto: Paska leporo
Finnish: pääsiäispupu (fi)
French: lapin de Pâques (fr) m
German: Osterhase (de) m
Greek: πασχαλινό λαγουδάκι n (paschalinó lagoudáki)
Hungarian: húsvéti nyúl (hu)
Hunsrik: Oostrehaas m
Irish: coinín na Cásca m
Italian: coniglietto pasquale m
Japanese: イースターバニー (Īsutā Banī)
Korean: 부활절 토끼 (Buhwaljeol tokki)
Low German:
German Low German: Oosterhaas
Luxembourgish: Ouschterhues m
Norwegian:
Bokmål: påskehare m
Nynorsk: påskehare m
Pennsylvania German: Oschderhaas m
Polish: zając wielkanocny m
Portuguese: coelhinho da Páscoa (pt) m
Russian: пасха́льный за́яц m (pasxálʹnyj zájac)
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: jatšowny wuchac m
Spanish: conejo de Pascua m
Swedish: påskhare (sv) c
Thai: กระต่ายอีสเตอร์
Turkish: paskalya tavşanı (tr)
Ukrainian: великодній заєць m (velykodnij zajecʹ)