butter
English
Pronunciation
- enPR: bŭtʹər, IPA(key): /ˈbʌtəɹ/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈbʌtə/
Audio (RP) (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /ˈbʌtɚ/, [ˈbʌɾɚ]
Audio (GA) (file) - (Scotland, Wales) IPA(key): /ˈbʌtɚ/, [ˈbʌʔɚ]
- Rhymes: -ʌtə(ɹ)
- (Northern England, Midlands) IPA(key): /ˈbʊtə/
- Rhymes: -ʊtə(ɹ)
- Hyphenation: but‧ter
Etymology 1
From Middle English buter, butter, from Old English butere (“butter”), from Proto-Germanic *buterǭ (“butter”) (compare West Frisian bûter, Dutch boter, German Butter), from Latin būtȳrum, from Ancient Greek βούτῡρον (boútūron, “cow cheese”), compound of βοῦς (boûs, “ox, cow”) and τῡρός (tūrós, “cheese”).
Compare Avestan 𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬏𐬙 (tūiri, “curdled milk, whey”)), from Proto-Indo-European *tuHrós (compare Middle Indic [script needed] (tūra, “cheese”), Russian творо́г (tvoróg, “curds, soft cheese”), Old English þweran (“to churn”), geþweor (“curds”)).
Noun
butter (usually uncountable, plural butters)
- A soft, fatty foodstuff made by churning the cream of milk (generally cow's milk).
- 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
- (obsolete, chemistry) Any specific soft substance.
- butter of antimony; butter of arsenic
Derived terms
- almond-butter
- apple butter
- bean-butter
- body butter
- bog-butter
- brandy butter
- bread and butter
- bread buttered on both sides
- butteraceous
- butter-ale
- butter-and-egg man
- butter and eggs, butter-and-eggs
- butter and tallow tree
- butter-back
- butter-badger
- butter-bag
- butter-bake
- butter-ball, butterball
- butter-barrel
- butter-basher
- butter bean
- butter-bird
- butter-bitten
- butter-boat
- butterbore
- butter-bowzy
- butter-box
- butter-boy
- butterbread
- butter brickle
- butterbur
- butter-bush
- butter-cake
- butterchurn
- butter clam
- butter cloth
- butter color, butter colour
- butter-cooler
- butter cream
- buttercross
- buttercup
- butter curler
- butter-cutter
- butter dish, butter-dish
- butter dock, butter-dock
- butter-duck
- butter-factor
- butter fat, butter-fat, butterfat
- butter-fingered, butterfingered
- butter-fingers, butterfingers
- butter-fish, butterfish
- butter-flip
- butter-flower
- butter icing
- butterie
- butterine
- butterish
- butter-jags
- butter knife, butter-knife
- butter-lamp
- butter-leaves
- butterless
- butter letter
- butter-man
- butter-mark
- butter-milk, buttermilk
- butter-mold, butter-mould
- butter-mouth
- butter muslin
- butter-nut, butternut
- butter of almonds
- butter of antimony
- butter of arsenic
- butter of bismuth
- butter of cacao
- butter of mace
- butter of tin
- butter of wax
- butter of zinc
- butter oil
- butter paddle
- butter paper
- butter-pat
- butter-pear
- butter-plate
- butter-print
- butter-queen
- butter-rigged
- butter-root
- butter salt
- butter scoop
- butterscot, butter-scotch, butterscotch
- butter-slide, butterslide
- butter spade
- butter-spreader
- butter stamp
- butter-stick
- butter substitute
- butter tart
- butter-toast
- butter tongs
- butter-tooth
- butter-toothed
- butter-tree
- butter trier
- butter-weed, butterweed
- butter week
- butter-weight
- butter-whore
- butter-wife
- butter-woman
- butter-worker
- butter-working
- butterwort
- butter would not melt in one's mouth
- buttery
- butter yellow
- cacao butter
- clarified butter
- cocoa butter
- coconut butter
- cocum butter, kokum butter
- dika-butter
- drawn butter
- duck butter
- embuttered
- fairy butter, fairy's butter
- Galam butter
- gren butter
- mahwa-butter
- make butter and cheese of
- May butter
- melted butter
- nut butter
- palm-butter
- peanut butter
- process butter
- renovated butter
- rock butter
- rum butter
- shea butter
- sugar-butter sauce
- sweet butter
- vegetable butter
- witches' butter
Related terms
Translations
|
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
|
Verb
butter (third-person singular simple present butters, present participle buttering, simple past and past participle buttered)
- (transitive) To spread butter on.
- Butter the toast.
- 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.
- (slang, obsolete, transitive) To increase (stakes) at every throw of dice, or every game.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Johnson to this entry?)
Derived terms
- butter one's bread on both sides
- butter the cony
- butter up
- fine words butter no parsnips
- have one's bread buttered for life
- know which side one's bread is buttered on
Translations
|
|
See also
Noun
butter (plural butters)
- Someone who butts, or who butts in.
- 2005, David E. Fastovsky, David B. Weishampel, The Evolution and Extinction of the Dinosaurs (page 156)
- […] 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.
- 2005, David E. Fastovsky, David B. Weishampel, The Evolution and Extinction of the Dinosaurs (page 156)
French
Etymology
From butte.
Conjugation
present participle | buttant /by.tɑ̃/ | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
past participle | butté /by.te/ | ||||||
infinitive | |||||||
simple | butter | ||||||
compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
gerund1 | |||||||
simple | buttant /by.tɑ̃/ | ||||||
compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
singular | plural | ||||||
first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
(simple tenses) |
present | butte /byt/ |
buttes /byt/ |
butte /byt/ |
buttons /by.tɔ̃/ |
buttez /by.te/ |
buttent /byt/ |
imperfect | buttais /by.tɛ/ |
buttais /by.tɛ/ |
buttait /by.tɛ/ |
buttions /by.tjɔ̃/ |
buttiez /by.tje/ |
buttaient /by.tɛ/ | |
past historic2 | buttai /by.te/ |
buttas /by.ta/ |
butta /by.ta/ |
buttâmes /by.tam/ |
buttâtes /by.tat/ |
buttèrent /by.tɛʁ/ | |
future | butterai /by.tʁe/ |
butteras /by.tʁa/ |
buttera /by.tʁa/ |
butterons /by.tʁɔ̃/ |
butterez /by.tʁe/ |
butteront /by.tʁɔ̃/ | |
conditional | butterais /by.tʁɛ/ |
butterais /by.tʁɛ/ |
butterait /by.tʁɛ/ |
butterions /by.tə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
butteriez /by.tə.ʁje/ |
butteraient /by.tʁɛ/ | |
(compound tenses) |
present perfect | present indicative of avoir + past participle | |||||
pluperfect | imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle | ||||||
past anterior2 | past historic of avoir + past participle | ||||||
future perfect | future of avoir + past participle | ||||||
conditional perfect | conditional of avoir + past participle | ||||||
subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ils, qu’elles | |
(simple tenses) |
present | butte /byt/ |
buttes /byt/ |
butte /byt/ |
buttions /by.tjɔ̃/ |
buttiez /by.tje/ |
buttent /byt/ |
imperfect2 | buttasse /by.tas/ |
buttasses /by.tas/ |
buttât /by.ta/ |
buttassions /by.ta.sjɔ̃/ |
buttassiez /by.ta.sje/ |
buttassent /by.tas/ | |
(compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
imperative | – | – | – | ||||
simple | — | butte /byt/ |
— | buttons /by.tɔ̃/ |
buttez /by.te/ |
— | |
compound | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | |
1 Only usable with preposition en. | |||||||
2 In less formal writing or speech, the past historic, past anterior, imperfect subjunctive and pluperfect subjunctive tenses may be found to have been replaced with the indicative present perfect, indicative pluperfect, present subjunctive and past subjunctive tenses respectively (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). |
Further reading
- “butter” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Middle English
Swedish
Declension
Inflection of butter | |||
---|---|---|---|
Indefinite | Positive | Comparative | Superlative2 |
Common singular | butter | buttrare | buttrast |
Neuter singular | buttert | buttrare | buttrast |
Plural | buttra | buttrare | buttrast |
Definite | Positive | Comparative | Superlative |
Masculine singular1 | buttre | buttrare | buttraste |
All | buttra | buttrare | buttraste |
1) Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine. 2) The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative. |