buttock

English

Human buttocks.

Etymology

From Middle English buttok, probably from Old English buttuc (“end; end piece”; also, “short piece of land”). Attested with its current anatomical meaning since 1300. A diminutive form of what is presumably the Old English precursor of butt +‎ -ock (diminutive suffix).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbʌtək/, /ˈbɐtək/
• IPA^(key): /ˈbʌtək/, [ˈbəɾək]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

buttock (plural buttocks)

1. (usually in the plural) Each of the two large fleshy halves of the posterior part of the body between the base of the back, the perineum and the top of the legs.
2. The convexity of a ship behind, under the stern.
   • 1925, Adventure, Volume 54

     There came a blast of freezing wind that made Skell shrug himself against the oaken post on which the ship's buttock rested.

Usage notes

The plural form is usually used in the singular sense for a single person's posterior, often called butt. It is rarer to refer to only a single buttock, which is then usually specified as left or right.

Synonyms

• asscheek (crude)
• butt-cheek
• arsecheek (crude)
• bum-cheek
• cheek
• ham
• mound
• hurdies (plural only)
• See also Thesaurus:buttocks

Derived terms

• quakebuttock

Translations

each of the two large fleshy halves of the posterior part of the body

• Afrikaans: boude
• Albanian: prapanicë (sq) f
• Arabic: دُبْر m (dubr), رِدْف (ar) m (ridf), رِدْفَان m (ridfān), أَلْيَة f (ʔalya)

  Egyptian Arabic: رِدْف m (redf), طيز f (ṭiiẓ), مؤخرة f (muʾaxera)

  Moroccan Arabic: ترْمة f (tərma)

• Armenian: հետույք (hy) (hetuykʻ), դմբուզ (hy) (dmbuz)
• Assamese: টিকা (tika), কটি (koti), তপিনা (topina)
• Asturian: nalga (ast) f, ñalga (ast) f
• Azerbaijani: omba (az), sağrı
• Bashkir: күт (küt) (also the whole butt)
• Belarusian: крумя́нка f (krumjánka), се́дніца f (sjédnica), се́даўка f (sjédaŭka), я́гадзіца f (jáhadzica)
• Bengali: নিতম্ব (bn) (nitombo)
• Breton: peñs (br) m
• Bulgarian: бут (bg) m (but)
• Burmese: ဖရုံဆွဲ (my) (hpa.rumhcwai:), တင် (my) (tang), ဖင် (my) (hpang)
• Catalan: natja (ca) f
• Chichewa: thako
• Chichonyi-Chidzihana-Chikauma: hako
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 囉柚／啰柚 (lo¹ jau^6-2), 啰柚 (lo¹ jau²), 屎忽 (si² fat¹), 屁股 (pei³ gu²), 臀部 (tyun⁴ bou⁶)

  Mandarin: 屁股 (zh) (pìgu), 臀部 (zh) (túnbù), 尻 (zh) (kāo)

  Min Nan: 尻川 (zh-min-nan) (kha-chhng)

• Coptic: ⲗⲱⲓⲗ f (lōil), ⲙⲁⲛϩⲉⲙⲥⲓ m (manhemsi), ⲫⲁϩⲟⲩ m (phahou)
• Cornish: pedren f
• Czech: zadek (cs) m (though singular, used for "buttocks"), hýždě (cs) f, půlka (cs) f
• Danish: balde (da) c, balle (da) c
• Dutch: bil (nl) f
• Esperanto: sidvango, gluteo (eo)
• Estonian: tagumik
• Faroese: reyvarbøllur m, arsbøllur m, vøddi m
• Finnish: pakara (fi)
• French: fesse (fr) f
• Galician: nádega (gl) f, cacha (gl) f
• Georgian: დუნდულოი (dunduloi), დუმა (duma), დუნდულა (dundula)
• German: Hinterbacke (de) f, (colloquial) Pobacke (de) f, Backe (de) f
• Greek: γλουτός (el) m (gloutós), κωλομέρι (el) n (koloméri), οπίσθια (el) n pl (opísthia) (buttocks)

  Ancient: πυγή f (pugḗ), γλουτός m (gloutós)

• Haitian Creole: bo bounda
• Hebrew: עכוז (he) m (akuz)
• Hindi: कूल्हा (hi) m (kūlhā), चूतड़ (hi) m (cūtaṛ), नितम्ब (hi) m (nitamb), चूतर (hi) m (cūtar)
• Hungarian: fenék (hu)
• Icelandic: rasskinn f
• Ido: gluteo (io), kulo (io)
• Italian: natica (it) f, gluteo (it) m, deretano (it), sedere (it), chiappe (it), chiappa (it) f, culo (it) m, fondoschiena (it) m, posteriore (it) m, didietro (it) m, mazzo (it) m
• Japanese: 尻 (ja) (しり, shiri), 臀部 (ja) (でんぶ, denbu)
• Kapampangan: buldit
• Kazakh: бөксе (bökse), құйрық (kk) (qūiryq), сауыр (sauyr)
• Khmer: កំប៉ះគូទ (kɑm pah kuut), គូទ (km) (kuut)
• Korean: 궁둥이 (ko) (gungdung'i), 엉덩이 (ko) (eongdeong'i), 볼기 (ko) (bolgi), 어덩이 (eodeong'i)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: سِمت (simt)

  Southern Kurdish: سِمت (simt)

• Kyrgyz: көчүк (ky) (köcük), жамбаш (ky) (jambaş)
• Lao: ຕະໂພກ (ta phōk), ປ້ານທ້າຽ (pān thāi), ໂສນິ (sō ni)
• Latin: natis (la), clūnis
• Latvian: sēžamvieta f (used for "buttocks"), vaigs
• Lithuanian: užpakalis (lt) m
• Luhya: litakho
• Macedonian: бут m (but), задник m (zadnik)
• Malay: buntut
• Malayalam: ചന്തി (ml) (canti), നിതംബം (ml) (nitambaṁ), പൃഷ്ഠം (ml) (pr̥ṣṭhaṁ), കുണ്ടി (ml) (kuṇṭi)
• Maltese: tebqa f, tebqejn f du
• Manchu: ura
• Maori: reherehe, reperepe, kuruhope
• Mongolian: бөгч (bögč)
• Navajo: atłʼaaʼ
• Norman: fêsse f (Jersey)
• Ottoman Turkish: آرد (ard), مقعد (makad), دبر (dübür), ادبار (edbar)
• Persian: سرین (fa) (sorin)
• Polish: pośladek (pl) m
• Portuguese: nádega (pt) f, traseiro (pt) m, fundilhos m pl
• Romanian: bucă (ro) f, buci f pl, fesă (ro) f
• Russian: я́годица (ru) f (jágodica), по́па (ru) f (pópa) (sg. used for "buttocks"), за́дница (ru) f (zádnica) (sg. used for "buttocks")
• Sanskrit: जघन (sa) m or n (jaghana)
• Serbo-Croatian: guzov m

  Cyrillic: гу̑з m

  Roman: gȗz (sh) m

• Slovak: zadok m
• Slovene: zadnjica f (buttocks)
• Spanish: nalga (es) f
• Swahili: tako (sw)
• Swedish: skinka (sv)
• Sylheti: ꠙꠥꠐ꠆ꠇꠤ (fuṭki)
• Tagalog: puwit, pigi
• Tajik: сурин (surin)
• Telugu: పిరుదు (te) (pirudu), పిర్ర (pirra)
• Thai: ก้น (th) (gôn)
• Turkish: makat (tr), kaba et (tr), kalça (tr) (also the whole butt)
• Turkmen: otyrýer
• Ukrainian: сідни́ця f (sidnýcja), си́дня f (sýdnja)
• Urdu: چوتڑ m (cūtaṛ), چوتر (cūtar)
• Uzbek: dumba (uz)
• Vietnamese: mông (vi)
• Volapük: glüet (vo), poöp (older term)
• Walloon: fesse (wa) f
• Waray-Waray: bubot
• Welsh: ffolen f
• Yami: atang
• Yiddish: הינטן (hintn)
• Zhuang: caekhaex

See also

• callipygian/callipygous
• dasypygal

References

• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “buttock”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.