potter
UK/ˈpɒtə//ˈpɑtɚ/
potter noun: one who makes pots and other ceramic wares.
Noun (1)
potter (plural potters)
- One who makes pots and other ceramic wares.
- shoemakers, weavers, potters, bronzeworkers who produced and purveyed the articles necessary for daily life.1961, J. A. Philip, “Mimesis in the Sophistês of Plato,”, in Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, volume 92, page 453
- Synonyms:
- ceramicist
- One who places flowers or other plants inside their pots.
- One who pots meats or other eatables.
- One who hawks crockery or earthenware.
- the convivial society of gipsies, tinkers, potters, strolling players, &c.1829, Thomas De Quincey, “Professor Wilson”, in Edinburgh Literary Gazette
- The red-bellied terrapin, Pseudemys rubriventris (species of turtle).
- Synonyms:
- northern red-bellied cooter
- The chicken turtle, Deirochelys reticularia.
Verb
potter (third-person singular simple present potters, present participle pottering, simple past and past participle pottered)
- To act in a vague or unmotivated way; to fuss about with unimportant things.
- To move slowly or aimlessly. (Often potter about, potter around.)
- He’s so dreamy and absent-minded. He potters about the garden all the time.1923, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter II, in Leave It to Psmith
- "We love our little diesel trains. They potter up and down. They break down. The C6 overhaul is only a temporary answer. By the time they are replaced, they will be 45 years old.2026 February 18, Paul Clifton, “West of England Line problems laid bare”, in RAIL, number 1055, page 7
- To poke repeatedly.
Noun (2) capitalized: Potter
Potter (plural Potters)
- A person from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, UK
- someone connected with Stoke City Football Club (in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, UK), as a fan, player, coach etc.
Proper noun capitalized: Potter
Potter (countable and uncountable, plural Potters)
- An English surname originating as an occupation for a potter.
- We are Harry Potter and William Wallace, the Na’vi and Han Solo. We’re escaping from Shawshank and blowing up the Death Star. We are fighting with the Harkonnens and challenging Thanos. Ukraine is hosting one of the great epics of this century.2023 February 16, Pavlo Kazarin, “A year ago I volunteered as a soldier in the Ukrainian army”, in NATO Review, archived from the original on 31 Mar 2025
- An unincorporated community and township in Polk County, Arkansas.
- A village in Cheyenne County, Nebraska.
- A town in Yates County, New York.
- A township in Barnes County, North Dakota.
- Two townships in Pennsylvania, in Beaver County and Centre County.
- A village in Calumet County, Wisconsin.
- Ellipsis of Potter County.
- Ellipsis of Harry Potter (“the Wizarding World”).
- In the interest of full disclosure, let it be said: This reviewer is not a Potterphile, has never cracked a Potter book or darkened the door of a theater playing one of the Potter movies.2004 June 4, Ann Hornaday, “Harry-Raising Adventure”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Mar 2016
- Despite the success of the novels, press about Harry Potter has not all been positive. Many people, especially some evangelical Christians, have been less than optimistic about the Potter influence.2006, Charles H Lippy, Faith in America [Three Volumes] [3 Volumes]: Changes, Challenges, New Directions, Greenwood Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 73
potter meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
potter in Hindi
- one who makes pots and ceramic wares
- कुम्हार kumhār, कुंहार kũhār, कुंभार kumbhār, कुलाल kulāl
potter in Tamil
- குயவன், மண்பாண்டக்காரர்
potter in Marathi
- कुंभार, कुम्हार, कुंभाराला
potter in Urdu
- one who makes pots and ceramic wares
- کُمْہار kumhār
More languagesFewer languages
- potter in Bengali
- কুমোর kumōr
- potter in Telugu
- కుమ్మరి kummari
- potter in Malayalam
- കുശവൻ, മൺപാത്രക്കാരൻ, മൺപാത്രക്കാരന്
- potter in Kannada
- ಕುಂಬಾರ
- potter in Punjabi
- ਕੁਮ੍ਹਿਆਰ kumhiāra, کُمہِیار kumhiyār
- potter in Gujarati
- કુંભાર
- potter in Odia
- କୁମ୍ଭାର kumbhāra, କୁମ୍ଭାରୁଣି kumbhāruṇi
- potter in Sanskrit
- कुलाल kulāla, कुम्भकार kumbhakāra
- potter in Assamese
- কুমাৰ kumar
- potter in Nepali
- कुम्हार, कुम्भकार
- potter in Arabic
- خَزَّاف ḵazzāf
- potter in Indonesian
- kumbakara
- potter in Thai
- ช่างปั้นหม้อ châang-bpân-mɔ̂ɔ, ผู้ทำหม้อ pûu-tam-mɔ̂ɔ, ช่างปั้น châang-bpân
- potter in Vietnamese
- người thợ đồ gốm, người làm đồ gốm
- potter in Myanmar
- အိုးထိန်းသည် ui:htin:sany, အိုးဆရာ ui:hca.ra
Examples of potter in a sentence
- I like to relax pottering about the house doing this and that at the weekends.
- I like to relax pottering around the house doing this and that at the weekends.
- Potters Bar and Heck, and the experiences had a profound effect on me - especially Ladbroke Grove.
Synonyms of potter
- ceramicist
- northern red-bellied cooter
Forms of potter
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | potters |
| plural | Potters |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | potters |
| present participle | pottering |
| past participle | pottered |
| past | pottered |
| alternative form | putter |
| alternative form | pouter |
| alternative form | pooter |
| alternative form | pudder |
| alternative form | pother |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Potters |
Origin of potter
From Middle English pottere, from Old English pottere (“potter”, in placenames), from Proto-West Germanic *pottārī (“pot-maker”), equivalent to pot + -er. Influenced by Anglo-Norman poter, Old French potier (“potter”). Cognate with Dutch potter (“potter”), German Low German Pötter, Pütter (“potter”). Displaced Old English synonyms lāmwyrhta (“a worker in clay, potter”, literally “loam-worker”), tiġelwyrhta (“brickmaker, potter”, literally “tile-worker”), crocwyrhta (“crocker, potter”, literally “crock-worker”).
Frequentative of pote, equivalent to pote + -er. Cognate with Dutch poteren, peuteren (“to poke, pry, search”).
From Middle English Potter, English, Dutch, and north German surname, from the noun pot. The usage for someone from Stoke-on-Trent refers to it being the home of the pottery industry in England, where it is also known as The Potteries.
Words formed from potter
- potteress
- Potter Heigham
- potter's clay
- potter's field
- pottersfield
- potter's rot
- potter's wheel
- potter wasp
- pottery
- pottress
- potter about
- potter around
- potterer
- potteringly
- Doege-Potter syndrome
- Harry Potter
- Potter County
- Potterdom
- Potteresque
- Potterfic
- Potterhead
- Potterholic
- Potterian
- Potterite
- Potterlock
- Pottermania
- Pottermaniac
- Potterphile
- Potter sequence
- Potter Valley
- Potterverse
Phrases with potter
Words that rhyme with potter
Questions about potter
- What does potter mean?
- Potter means one who makes pots and other ceramic wares.
- What is potter in Hindi?
- Potter in Hindi is कुम्हार (kumhār), कुंहार (kũhār), कुंभार (kumbhār). See Potter meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is potter?
- Potter can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce potter?
- Potter is pronounced /ˈpɒtə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of potter?
- The plural of potter is potters.
Words near potter in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: potter (page history and authors); Potter (page history and authors); potter (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); potter (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); potter (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); potter (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); potter (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); potter (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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-us-potter.ogg.
Cite this entry: “potter.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/potter. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.