Meaning and spelling of bumbag

Question

I'm not an English speaker.
Q1. In my language, a bumbag is called a "waist pouch," and it includes both the bag part and the belt part. The Oxford Learner's Dictionary puts "bumbag is a small bag attached to a belt..." My first question is - a bumbag points only to the bag part or the whole.
Q2. On some websites, Americans say a US fanny pack is called a "bum bag" in the UK. But on-line dictionaries of Oxford, Cambridge, and Collins have no entry for it. They have "bumbag" and do not refer to "bum bag" as an alternative spelling. Is "bum bag" OK in UK, Canada, Australia, or NZ?
(Number of occurrences in US Amazon: "fanny pack" 84,500 / "waist bag" 70,500 / "waist pack" 46,300 / "bum bag" 12,400 / bumbag" 3,350 ; but I do not think this is the actual usage.)
I would appreciate any suggestions.

HemiPoweredDrone · Answer

As an American who has lived in Australia for a long time, I am familiar with "fanny pack" (AmE) and "bum bag" (BrE). I have always seen "bum bag" as two words.
Note that "fanny" is reasonably crude in BrE and "fanny pack" will usually get a smirk at least ("fanny" = child's term for the female genitals). "Bum" is BrE for the buttocks, above which such a pack is worn.
Americans know the BrE meaning of "bum" but generally associate the word with a lazy person, hobo, or vagrant.

Meaning and spelling of bumbag

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