buttercup

English

a buttercup, Ranunculus repens

Etymology

From butter +‎ cup. Both sense 1 and 2 are from the flowers' association with butter, from their yellow colour. Compare butterflower for a similar derivation; outside of English, compare Dutch boterbloem, German Butterblume.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbʌt.ə.kʌp/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈbʌt.ɚ.kʌp/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

buttercup (plural buttercups)

2. Any of many herbs, of the genus Ranunculus, having yellow flowers; the crowfoot.
4. Any flower of the genus Narcissus; a daffodil.
5. Ellipsis of buttercup squash.
6. Affectionate or ironic term of address.
   • 1957, “All Shook Up”, Otis Blackwell, Elvis Presley (lyrics), performed by Elvis Presley:

     When she touched my hand, what a chill I got
     Her lips are like a volcano that's hot
     I'm proud to say that she's my buttercup.
     I'm in love - I'm all shook up.

   • 1987, Joyce Brandon, Lady and the Lawman, page 346:

     Listen, buttercup, you're damned good in bed. They don't come any better, but I'm really not interested in playing second fiddle to your camera or your young lovers.

Synonyms

• ranunculus, crowfoot

Derived terms

• Bermuda buttercup
• bulbous buttercup
• buttercup anemone
• buttercuplike
• buttercupped
• buttercup squash
• buttercup tree
• California buttercup
• creeping buttercup
• glacier buttercup
• goldilocks buttercup
• Greenland buttercup
• wood buttercup

Translations

herb of the genus Ranunculus

• Akan: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: حَوْذَان m (ḥawḏān)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Assamese: please add this translation if you can
• Azerbaijani: qaymaqçiçəyi
• Bulgarian: лютиче n (ljutiče)
• Catalan: ranuncle m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 毛茛 (zh) (máogèn), 金鳳花 / 金凤花 (zh) (jīnfènghuā)

• Czech: pryskyřník (cs) m
• Dutch: boterbloem (nl) f
• Esperanto: ranunkolo
• Faroese: sólja f
• Finnish: leinikki (fi)
• French: bouton-d'or (fr) m, renoncule (fr), grenouillette (fr), fleur de l'impatience, gobet du diable
• Galician: ranúnculo m, botón de ouro m
• Georgian: ბაია (baia)
• German: Hahnenfuß (de) m, Butterblume (de)
• Greek: νεραγκούλα (el) f (neragkoúla), ρεναγκούλα (el) f (renagkoúla)

  Ancient: βατράχιον n (batrákhion)

• Hebrew: נורית (he) f (nurít)
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: boglárka (hu)
• Icelandic: sóley (is)
• Irish: crobh préacháin m, fearbán m
• Italian: ranuncolo (it) m
• Japanese: キンポウゲ (ja) (kinpōge), 金鳳花 (ja) (きんぽうげ, kinpōge)
• Kazakh: сарғалдақ (sarğaldaq)
• Korean: 미나리아재비 (ko) (minariajaebi)
• Latin: rānunculus m, gallīcrūs n
• Lithuanian: vėdrynas
• Luxembourgish: Botterblumm (lb) f
• Malayalam: please add this translation if you can
• Manx: cass feeagh
• Maori: korikori, mārūrū, kōpukapuka, waoriki, raoriki, kōpukupuku, kawariki
• Navajo: łéʼétsoh yiljaaʼí
• Ottoman Turkish: دوگون چیچكی (düğün çiçeği)
• Persian: آلاله (fa) (âlâle)
• Polish: jaskier (pl) m
• Portuguese: ranúnculo (pt) m
• Romanian: piciorul-cocoșului (ro) n, gălbenea (ro) f
• Russian: лю́тик (ru) m (ljútik)
• Scottish Gaelic: cearban m, buidheag-an-t-samhraidh f
• Slovak: iskerník m
• Spanish: ranúnculo (es) m
• Swedish: smörblomma (sv) c
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Telugu: please add this translation if you can
• Tibetan: ལྕེ་ཚ (lce tsha)
• Turkish: düğün çiçeği (tr), turnaayağı (tr), sütlüce (tr)
• Welsh: blodyn menyn m, crafanc y frân f
• Wolof: please add this translation if you can
• Yoruba: please add this translation if you can

flower of the genus Narcissus — see daffodil