butter

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See also: Butter

English[edit]

A stick of butter (food made from cream) with a butter knife.
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Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

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”).

Noun[edit]

butter (usually uncountable, plural butters)

  1. A soft, fatty foodstuff made by churning the cream of milk (generally cow's milk).
  2. 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
  3. (obsolete, chemistry) Any specific soft substance.
    butter of antimony; butter of arsenic
Derived terms[edit]
Terms derived from butter (noun)
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
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.
Translations to be checked

Verb[edit]

butter (third-person singular simple present butters, present participle buttering, simple past and past participle buttered)

  1. (transitive) To spread butter on.
    Butter the toast.
  2. 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.
  3. (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[edit]
Terms derived from butter (verb)
Translations[edit]
to spread butter on — See also translations at spread,‎ butter
See also[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

butt +‎ -er

Noun[edit]

butter (plural butters)

  1. 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.

French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From butte.

Verb[edit]

butter

  1. to heap
    butter les pommes de terre.
    to heap the potatoes [onto something].

Conjugation[edit]

Conjugation of butter (see also Appendix:French verbs)
infinitive simple butter
compound avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1 simple buttant
/by.tɑ̃/
compound ayant + past participle
past participle butté
/by.te/
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 – tu – nous vous –
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 The French gerund is 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[edit]

German[edit]

Verb[edit]

butter

  1. First-person singular present of buttern.
  2. Imperative singular of buttern.

Middle English[edit]

Noun[edit]

butter

  1. Alternative form of buter

Swedish[edit]

Adjective[edit]

butter (comparative buttrare, superlative buttrast)

  1. grumpy

Declension[edit]

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.

Anagrams[edit]

West Flemish[edit]

Noun[edit]

butter ?

  1. Alternative form of beuter
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