butler

See also: Butler

English

Etymology

From Middle English butler, butlere, botelere, from Old French buttiler, butiller, boteillier (“officer in charge of wine”), from Medieval Latin botellārius, equivalent to bottle +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbʌt.lə(ɹ)/
• enPR: bŭtʹ-lər, IPA^(key): /ˈbʌt.lɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌtlə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: but‧ler

Noun

butler (plural butlers)

1. A manservant having charge of wines and liquors.
2. The chief male servant of a household who has charge of other employees, receives guests, directs the serving of meals, and performs various personal services.
   • 1929, Baldwyn Dyke Acland, chapter 2, in Filibuster:

     “One marble hall, with staircase complete, one butler and three flunkeys to receive a retired sojer who dares to ring the bell. D'you know, old boy, I gave my bowler to the butler, whangee to one flunkey, gloves to another, and there was the fourth poor blighter looking like an orphan at a Mothers' Meeting. …"

3. A valet, a male personal attendant.

Derived terms

• buttle (backformation)

Related terms

• butt (large cask)

Translations

manservant having charge of wines and liquors

• Arabic: كَبِير خَدَم m (kabīr ḵadam)
• Catalan: sommelier m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 管家 (zh) (guǎnjiā), 男僕／男仆 (zh) (nánpú), 男仆 (zh) (nánpú)

• Egyptian: (wdpw)
• Finnish: sommelier (fi)
• French: sommelier (fr) m
• Galician: sumiller m
• Hindi: ख़ानसामा m (xānsāmā), ख़ानसामाँ m (xānsāmā̃)
• Italian: costituente (it) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: ソムリエ (somurie)
• Korean: 소믈리에 (someullie)
• Macedonian: батлер m (batler)
• Persian: پیش‌خدمت (piš-xedmat)
• Portuguese: mordomo (pt) m
• Romanian: somelier m, chelar (ro) m, pivnicer (ro) m
• Russian: дворе́цкий (ru) m (dvoréckij)
• Spanish: sumiller (es) m or f
• Urdu: خانسامان m (xānsāmān)

chief male servant

• Bulgarian: иконо́м m (ikonóm)
• Catalan: majordom (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 管家 (zh) (guǎnjiā), 執事／执事 (zh) (zhíshì)

• Czech: majordomus (cs) m
• Dutch: butler (nl) m
• Esperanto: ĉefservisto
• Finnish: hovimestari (fi)
• French: majordome (fr) m
• Galician: mordomo (gl) m
• German: Butler (de) m
• Greek: αρχιοικονόμος m (archioikonómos)
• Indonesian: pelayan (id)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: maggiordomo (it) m
• Japanese: 執事 (しつじ, shitsuji)
• Korean: 집사 (ko) (jipsa)
• Latin: prōmus m
• Macedonian: батлер m (batler)
• Norwegian: bøtler m
• Polish: kamerdyner (pl) m
• Portuguese: mordomo (pt) m
• Romanian: majordom (ro) m
• Russian: дворе́цкий (ru) m (dvoréckij)
• Spanish: mayordomo (es)
• Vietnamese: quản gia (vi)

Verb

butler (third-person singular simple present butlers, present participle butlering, simple past and past participle butlered)

1. To buttle, to dispense wines or liquors; to take the place of a butler.

Anagrams

• turbel