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butty

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butty¹

  • /ˈbʊti/
  • /ˈbʌti/
  • /ˈbʌɾi/

Rhymes with -ʊti, -ʌti

Where it comes from

Clipping of buttered sandwich or bun + -y. Compare Saterland Frisian Buutje (“buttered bread (sandwich)”).

noun butties

  1. Ireland, New Zealand, Northern England, UK A sandwich, usually with a hot or cold savoury filling buttered in a barmcake. The most common are chips, bacon, sausage and egg. Let's have a bacon butty!

butty²

Where it comes from

Unknown. Perhaps from booty.

noun butties

  1. UK, Wales, West Country, colloquial A friend.

    Similar: butt, buddy, chum

  2. A miner who works under contract, receiving a fixed amount per ton of coal or ore. But Alfred Charlesworth did not forgive the butty these public-house sayings. Consequently, although Morel was a good miner, sometimes earning as much as five pounds a week when he married, [...]
  3. dated A miner's assistant or apprentice.
  4. UK, colloquial A workmate. Near-synonyms: coworker, buddy

    Similar: coworker, buddy, colleague, partner, workmate, workfellow

  5. UK, archaic, dialectal A drudge; a cat's paw; someone who does the hard work; someone who is being taken advantage of by someone else. Ah didn't play butty, ah promise yer. Yo all on yer mek the poor lad yer butty.
  6. Shropshire, archaic One of a pair of shoes or gloves. I've fund one shoe, but canna see the butty no-weer.

Similar: fam, mate, mucker

verb butties · buttying · buttied

  1. UK, archaic, dialectal To work together; to keep company with. I butty with Jackson.
  2. Shropshire, archaic To cohabit; to reside with another as a couple. Did'n'ee 'ear as Jim Tunkiss brought three children to the parish? I reckon 'e inna married, but 'e's bin buttyin' along o' one o' them Monsells.

    Similar: cohabit, live in sin, live over the brush

  3. Yorkshire, archaic To act in concert with intent to defraud; to play unfairly.

    Similar: con, trick

butty³

adjective more butty · most butty

  1. Ireland, West Country, dated Resembling a heavy cart. Shall it be a giggy thing, or a carty thing, or a butty thing?

Thesaurus

noun

Similar: fam, mate, mucker

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Cite this
MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX
@misc{butty_2026,
  title = {butty},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/butty},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}