butter
Syllables: but·ter/ˈbʌtəɹ//ˈbʌtə/
butter noun: a soft, fatty foodstuff made by churning the cream of milk (generally cow's milk).
Noun (1)
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
- soy butter
- 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.2016 September 7, Elaine Stavert, Beauty Oils & Butter, GMC PUBLICATIONS LTD, →ISBN
- Butters are triglycerides […]. Cocoa butter (Theobroma cacao) is used as an emollient in topical cosmetic formulations, […] South American and the Brazilian rainforest offer various plants with common butters used in the industry that include […] cupuaçu butter […] and murumuru butter from the...2019 April 5, Heather A.E. Benson, Michael S. Roberts, Vania Rodrigues Leite-Silva, Kenneth Walters, Cosmetic Formulation: Principles and Practice, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 227
- Any specific soft substance.
- butter of antimony; butter of arsenic
- 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 !2024 February 12, @OluBliss, X (post)
- A smooth plane landing.
- That landing was total butter!
Verb
butter (third-person singular simple present butters, present participle buttering, simple past and past participle buttered)
- 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. Similar to applying butter to bread with the end of a knife.
- To spin on skis or a snowboard using only the tips or tails being in contact with the snow
- To increase (stakes) at every throw of dice, or every game.
Noun (2)
butter (plural butters)
- 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.2005, David E. Fastovsky, David B. Weishampel, The Evolution and Extinction of the Dinosaurs, page 156
- Someone or something that butts in; a busybody.
Proper noun capitalized: Butter
Butter (plural Butters)
- A surname.
butter meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
butter in Hindi
- soft foodstuff made from milk
- घी ghī, मक्खन makkhan, माखन mākhan, नवनी navnī, नवनीत navnīt, नोनी nonī
- to spread butter on — see also spread, butter
- मक्खन लगाना makkhan lagānā, चुपड़ना cupaṛnā
butter in Tamil
- soft foodstuff made from milk
- வெண்ணெய் veṇṇey, இழுது iḻutu, விழுது viḻutu
butter in Marathi
- soft foodstuff made from milk
- माखण mākhaṇ, लोणी loṇī
- to spread butter on — see also spread, butter
- माखणे mākhṇe
butter in Urdu
- soft foodstuff made from milk
- گھی ghī, مَکَّھن makkhan, نَونی naunī, نُونی nūnī, نَوَنِیت navanīt
More languagesFewer languages
- butter in Bengali
- মাখন makhon
- butter in Telugu
- వెన్న venna
- butter in Malayalam
- വെണ്ണ veṇṇa
- butter in Kannada
- ಬೆಣ್ಣೆ beṇṇe
- butter in Punjabi
- ਮੱਖਣ makkhaṇ
- butter in Gujarati
- માખણ mākhaṇ, મસ્કો masko
- butter in Odia
- ଲହୁଣୀ lahuṇi
- butter in Sanskrit
- नवनीत navanīta, घृत ghṛta
- butter in Sinhala
- බටර් baṭar
- butter in Assamese
- মাখণ makhon, ননী noni
- butter in Nepali
- नौनी naunī, मक्खन makkhan
- butter in Pashto
- کوچ kuč
- butter in Tagalog
- mantekilya
- butter in Arabic
- زُبْدَة zubda, زبدة zébda
- butter in Malay
- mentega
- butter in Indonesian
- mentega
- butter in Persian
- مَسْکَه maska, کَرِه kare
- butter in Thai
- เนย nəəi, ทาเนย ta noey
- butter in Vietnamese
- bơ
- butter in Myanmar
- ထောပတ် htau:pat
- Sindhi
- مکڻ makhanu, گيِہہُ gīhu
- Kashmiri
- تھٔنؠ thạn'
- Dzongkha
- མར mar
Examples of butter in a sentence
- As I arrived last of all, I'll go last to add the butter last.
- She liked to spread butter on her toast while it was still hot.
- He always spreads his toast with peanut butter and strawberry jam.
Forms of butter
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | butters |
| alternative form (slang) | butta |
| alternative form (slang) | buttah |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | butters |
| present participle | buttering |
| past participle | buttered |
| past | buttered |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Butters |
Origin of butter
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.
From butt + -er.
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.
Words formed from butter
- almond butter
- almond-butter
- apple butter
- back butter
- back-butter
- bean-butter
- black butter
- blue butter
- body butter
- bog butter
- brandy butter
- bread-and-butter
- bread and butter
- bread-and-butter issue
- bread-and-butter letter
- bread-and-butter note
- bread-and-butter pickle
- bread-and-butter plate
- bread and butter pudding
- brown butter
- budder
- bull butter
- butterable
- butter-and-egger
- butter-and-egg man
- butter-and-egg money
- butter-and-eggs
- butter bar
- butter bean
- butterbird
- butter board
- butter boat
- butter bomb
- butter-box
- butter bread
- butter brickle
- butterburger
- butterbutt
- butter cake
- butter chicken
- butter clam
- buttercream
- butter cream
- buttercrunch
- butter curler
- butter dish
- butterdock
- butterer
- butterface
- butter face
- butterfaced
- butter-fat
- butter fat
- butter-fingered
- butter fingers
- butter flap
- butter flower
- butter fruit
- butterhead
- butterhorn
Phrases with butter
- butter up
- butter oil
- butter out
- butter pat
- butter pie
- butter tea
- egg butter
- nut butter
- pea butter
- rum butter
- butter bars
- butter down
150 more phrasesFewer phrases
- butter fats
- butter lamp
- butter pats
- butter pear
- butter pies
- butter salt
- butter tart
- butter teas
- butter tofu
- butter tree
- Butter Week
- crab butter
- duck butter
- head butter
- herb butter
- lung butter
- nose butter
- palm butter
- rock butter
- shea butter
- butter beans
- butter boats
- butter bombs
- butter cakes
- butter clams
- butter faces
- butter flaps
- butter icing
- butter knife
- butter lamps
- butter mochi
- butter paper
- butter pears
- butter plate
- butter scoop
- butter slime
- butter tarts
- butter teeth
- butter tooth
- butter trees
- cacao butter
- cocoa butter
- drawn butter
- fairy butter
- green butter
- honey butter
- kanya butter
- kombo butter
- maple butter
- nun's butter
- plant butter
- print butter
- snail butter
- sweet butter
- butter boards
- butter breads
- butter creams
- butter dishes
- butter fruits
- butter icings
- butter keeper
- butter knives
- butter muslin
- butter of tin
- butter paddle
- butter papers
- butter plates
- butter scoops
- butter slimes
- butter yellow
- cookie butter
- cowboy butter
- garlic butter
- karite butter
- peanut butter
- whisky butter
- butter curlers
- butter flowers
- butter keepers
- butter measure
- butter of zinc
- butter paddles
- butter yellows
- knob of butter
- process butter
- tanning butter
- truffle butter
- whipped butter
- whiskey butter
- witch's butter
- butter measures
- butter mountain
- butter the cony
- compound butter
- fairies' butter
- guns and butter
- knobs of butter
- witches' butter
- butter mountains
- clarified butter
- maître d' butter
- nut-brown butter
- renovated butter
- shea butter tree
- smooth as butter
- vegetable butter
- butter of arsenic
- gooey butter cake
- peanut butter cup
- poor man's butter
- butter of antimony
- gooey butter cakes
- peanut butter cups
- master butter knife
- midshipman's butter
- movie theater butter
- speckled butter bean
- Cumberland rum butter
- melt someone's butter
- peanut butter and jam
- speckled butter beans
- melts someone's butter
- peanut butter and jams
- melted someone's butter
- peanut butter and jelly
- sharp as a butter knife
- butter someone's biscuit
- melting someone's butter
- bread and butter puddings
- peanut butter and jellies
- put butter on one's bread
- puts butter on one's bread
- whatever melts your butter
- like a knife through butter
- like butter on a bald monkey
- fine words butter no parsnips
- putting butter on one's bread
- like a hot knife through butter
- butter one's bread and lie in it
- butter one's bread on both sides
- land with one's bum in the butter
- lands with one's bum in the butter
- landed with one's bum in the butter
- butter my butt and call it a biscuit
- butter my butt and call me a biscuit
- butter won't melt in someone's mouth
- landing with one's bum in the butter
- butter will not melt in someone's mouth
- butter wouldn't melt in someone's mouth
- butter would not melt in someone's mouth
Words that rhyme with butter
Questions about butter
- What does butter mean?
- Butter means a soft, fatty foodstuff made by churning the cream of milk (generally cow's milk).
- What is butter in Hindi?
- Butter in Hindi is घी (ghī), मक्खन (makkhan), माखन (mākhan). See Butter meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is butter?
- Butter can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce butter?
- Butter is pronounced /ˈbʌtəɹ/.
- What is the plural of butter?
- The plural of butter is butters.
Words near butter in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: butter (page history and authors); Butter (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-butter.ogg, en-us-butter.ogg.
Cite this entry: “butter.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/butter. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.