atter
UK/ˈætə/US/ˈætəɹ/
atter noun: poisonous bodily fluid, especially venom of a venomous animal, such as a snake, dragon or other reptile; corrupt or morbid matter from the body, such as pus from a sore or wound; bitter substance, such as bile.
Noun
atter (plural atters)
- Poisonous bodily fluid, especially venom of a venomous animal, such as a snake, dragon or other reptile; corrupt or morbid matter from the body, such as pus from a sore or wound; bitter substance, such as bile.
- Moral corruption or corruptness; noxious or corrupt influence, poison to the soul, evil, anger, envy, hatred; destruction, death.
- Epithelium produced on the tongue.
- A scab; a dry sore.
Verb
atter (third-person singular simple present atters, present participle attering, simple past and past participle attered)
Forms of atter
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | atters |
| alternative Scotland | attir |
| alternative Scotland | etter |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | atters |
| present participle | attering |
| past participle | attered |
| past | attered |
Origin of atter
From Middle English atter, ater, from Old English āttor, ǣttor, ātor (“poison”), from Proto-West Germanic *aitr, from Proto-Germanic *aitrą (“gland, matter”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyd-, *h₂oyd- (“tumor, abscess”), related to Ancient Greek οἶδος (oîdos, “swelling, tumour, abscess, produced by internal action”). Cognate with Scots attir (“corrupt matter, pus”), Scots atter, etter (“poison, venom”), Shetlandic eter (“poison; bitter cold”), Old Norse eitr, Icelandic eitur (“poison”), Faroese eitur, Norwegian eiter (“venom”), Swedish etter (“poison, venom, virulence”), Danish edder, ædder (“venom”), Saterland Frisian Atter (“pus”), Dutch etter (“pus”), German Eiter (“poison, pus”).
Words formed from atter
Words that rhyme with atter
Questions about atter
- What does atter mean?
- Atter means poisonous bodily fluid, especially venom of a venomous animal, such as a snake, dragon or other reptile; corrupt or morbid matter from the body, such as pus from a sore or wound; bitter substance, such as bile.
- What part of speech is atter?
- Atter can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce atter?
- Atter is pronounced /ˈætə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of atter?
- The plural of atter is atters.
Words near atter in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: atter (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “atter.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/atter. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.