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butter

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butter¹

  • /ˈbʌtəɹ/
  • /ˈbʌtə/ UK
  • /ˈbʌtɚ/ US
  • [ˈbʌɾɚ] US
  • /ˈbatə/ New Zealand
  • [ˈbaɾə] New Zealand
  • /ˈbʌtəɾ/ Scotland
  • /ˈbʊtə/ Midlands, Northern England
  • /ˈbʊhɐ/

Rhymes with -ʌtə(ɹ)

Where it comes from

PIE word

*gʷṓws

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws

Proto-Hellenic *gʷous

Ancient Greek βοῦς (boûs)

Proto-Indo-European *tewh₂-

Proto-Indo-European *-rós

Proto-Indo-European *tuh₂rós

Proto-Hellenic *tūrós

Ancient Greek τυρός (turós)

Ancient Greek βούτῡρον (boútūron)bor.

Latin būtȳrumbor.

Proto-West Germanic *buterā

Old English butere

Middle English buter

English butter

From Middle English buter, butter, from Old English butere, from Proto-West Germanic *buterā, from Latin būtȳrum, from Ancient Greek βούτῡρον (boútūron, “cow cheese”), compound of βοῦς (boûs, “ox, cow”) and τῡρός (tūrós, “cheese”).

Cognate with Dutch boter and German Butter.

noun butters · butta · buttah

  1. uncountable, usually A soft, fatty foodstuff made by churning the cream of milk (generally cow's milk).
  2. uncountable, usually Any of various foodstuffs made from other foods or oils, similar in consistency to, eaten like or intended as a substitute for butter (preceded by the name of the food used to make it). peanut butter
  3. uncountable, usually Any of various substances made from other (especially plant-based) oils or fats, used in moisturizers, cosmetics, etc. Butters such as cocoa, illippe, kokum, mango, murumuru, sal (shorea) and shea occur naturally and are obtained directly from the plant.
  4. obsolete, uncountable, usually Any specific soft substance. butter of antimony; butter of arsenic
  5. attributive, slang, sometimes, uncountable, usually Something that is smooth, impressive, or appealing. (Compare smooth as butter.) That “Confessions” into “Nice and Slow” transition [at the Super Bowl LVIII halftime show] was buttah !
  6. attributive, slang, sometimes, uncountable, usually A smooth plane landing. That landing was total butter!

verb butters · buttering · buttered · butta · buttah

  1. transitive To spread butter on. Butter the toast.
  2. To move one's weight backwards or forwards onto the tips or tails of one's skis or snowboard so only the tip or tail is in contact with the snow. Similar to applying butter to bread with the end of a knife.
  3. To spin on skis or a snowboard using only the tips or tails being in contact with the snow
  4. obsolete, slang, transitive To increase (stakes) at every throw of dice, or every game.

butter²

  • /ˈbʌtəɹ/
  • /ˈbʌtə/ UK
  • /ˈbʌtɚ/ US
  • [ˈbʌɾɚ] US
  • /ˈbatə/ New Zealand
  • [ˈbaɾə] New Zealand
  • /ˈbʌtəɾ/ Scotland
  • /ˈbʊtə/ Midlands, Northern England
  • /ˈbʊhɐ/

Rhymes with -ʌtə(ɹ)

noun butters

  1. Someone or something that butts. […] these animals lacked self-correcting mechanisms of the kind seen in modern head-butters such as goats and big-horn sheep that would have kept the tremendous forces aligned with the rest of the skeleton.
  2. Someone or something that butts in; a busybody.

Butter³

Where it comes from

Various origins:

* From butter, a metonymic occupational surname for a dairyman or seller of butter.

* From Old French butor (“bittern”), a nickname for someone who resembled a bittern, perhaps because of his voice.

* Borrowed from Dutch and German Butter, possibly a short form of various compound names.

proper noun Butters

  1. A surname.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: cream, bread, butterfat, cake, cheese, peanut, resin, oil, eat, donkey, burro, bundle, eye, ear, tender, grandpa

Translations

Every language

noun soft foodstuff made from milk

Españolmantequilla, manteca
한국어버터 beoteo
日本語バター batā, 牛酪 gyūraku, 乳酪 nyūraku
中文黃油 /黄油 huángyóu, 牛油 niúyóu, 白脫 /白脱 báituō
हिन्दीघी ghī, मक्खन makkhan, माखन mākhan, नवनी navnī, नवनीत navnīt, नोनी nonī
Kiswahilisiagi
Portuguêsmanteiga
Françaisbeurre
DeutschButter
Italianoburro, butirro
Ελληνικάβούτυρο voútyro
Românăunt
Русскийма́сло máslo, сли́вочное ма́сло slívočnoje máslo
Tiếng Việtbơ
العربيةزُبْدَة zubda
עבריתחֶמְאָה khem'a

noun other foodstuffs like butter

Françaisbeurre
Русскийма́сло máslo

verb to spread butter on — see also spread, butter

Españoluntar con mantequilla
हिन्दीमक्खन लगाना makkhan lagānā, चुपड़ना cupaṛnā
Portuguêsamanteigar, passar manteiga em
Françaisbeurrer
Deutschmit Butter bestreichen
Italianoimburrare
Русскийнама́слить namáslitʹ, нама́сливать namáslivatʹ, нама́зать ма́слом namázatʹ máslom, нама́зывать ма́слом namázyvatʹ máslom
Tiếng Việt(vào) quẹt bơ

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Cite this
MLA

"butter." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/butter. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

butter. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/butter

Chicago

"butter." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/butter.

BibTeX
@misc{butter_2026,
  title = {butter},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/butter},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}