otter

See also: Otter

English

Asian small-clawed otter (Lutra cinerea) (1)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɒt.ə/
• (General American) enPR: ŏtʹər, IPA^(key): /ˈɑtɚ/, [(ʔ)ɑɾɚ]

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Homophone: odder (US)
• Rhymes: -ɒtə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

From Middle English oter, otir, otur, otyre, from Old English otor, from Proto-West Germanic *otr, from Proto-Germanic *utraz, from Proto-Indo-European *udrós (“aquatic, water-animal”), from Proto-Indo-European *wed- (“water”).

Cognate with Saterland Frisian Otter, Dutch otter, German Otter, Swedish utter, Norwegian oter, Icelandic otur, Sanskrit उद्र (udrá), Russian вы́дра (výdra), and Ancient Greek ὕδρα (húdra, “water snake”). Doublet of Hydra and hydra. More etymology under English water.

Noun

otter (countable and uncountable, plural otters or otter)

2. An aquatic or marine carnivorous mammal in the subfamily Lutrinae.
   1. (uncountable) The flesh or fur of this animal
      • 1960, Scott O'Dell, Island of the Blue Dolphins, Puffin Books, page 11:

        'The Aleuts come from a country far to the north,' he said. 'Their ways are not ours nor is their language. They have come to take otter and to give us our share in many goods which they have and which we can use.

3. (gay slang) A hairy man with a slender physique, in contrast with a bear, who is more thickset.

Derived terms

• bear otter
• European otter (Lutra lutra)
• giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis)
• King Otter
• marine otter (Lontra felina)
• Maxwell's otter
• otter board
• otter civet
• Otter Creek
• Otterhound
• ottering
• otterish
• otterless
• otterlike
• otterly
• ottermode
• otter shell
• otter shrew
• otterskin
• Otter Tail County
• ottery
• river otter (Lontra spp.)
• sea otter (Enhydra lutris)
• snot otter

Translations

mammal

• Abkhaz: аԥслы (apslə)
• Afrikaans: otter
• Ainu: エサマン (esáman)
• Albanian: lundërz (sq) f, vidër (sq) f, lundër (sq) f
• Algonquin: nigig
• Arabic: قُضَاعَة f (quḍāʕa), ثَعْلَب الْمَاء m (ṯaʕlab al-māʔ)
• Aragonese: loira f, luria f, nuria f
• Armenian: ջրասամույր (hy) (ǰrasamuyr)

  Old Armenian: շնջրի (šnǰri)

• Aromanian: vidrã f
• Assamese: উদ (ud)
• Asturian: llóndriga (ast) f, llóndrigu (ast) m
• Azerbaijani: çay samuru
• Bashkir: ҡама (qama), ҡамсат (qamsat)
• Basque: igaraba (eu), urtxakur (eu)
• Bau Bidayuh: biron
• Belarusian: вы́дра f (výdra)
• Bengali: ভোঁদড় (bn) (bhō̃doṛ)
• Breton: dourgi (br) m, ki-dour (br) m
• Bulgarian: ви́дра (bg) f (vídra)
• Burmese: ဖျံ (my) (hpyam)
• Catalan: llúdria (ca) f, llúdriga f
• Central Melanau: dengen
• Central Nahuatl: ahuitzotl
• Chepang: तीःचोरो
• Cherokee: ᏥᏯ (tsiya)
• Cheyenne: náa'e
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 水獺 / 水獭 (zh) (shuǐtǎ)

• Chipewyan: ną́bį
• Chukchi: кыквэтвун (kykvėtvun), нэннэт (nėnnėt)
• Chuvash: ӑтӑр (ăt̬ăr)
• Classical Nahuatl: āhuitzōtl
• Coptic: ⲟⲩϩⲟⲣ ⲙⲱⲟⲩ (ouhor mōou)
• Czech: vydra (cs) f
• Danish: odder (da) c
• Dutch: otter (nl) m
• Dzongkha: སྲམ (sram)
• Eastern Khanty: вӑнтәр (wăntər)
• Erzya: пачалапа (pačalapa)
• Esperanto: lutro
• Estonian: saarmas (et)
• Faroese: otur m
• Finnish: saukko (fi)
• French: loutre (fr) f
• Friulian: lodre f
• Galician: lontra (gl) f, londra (gl) f, ludra f, lóndrega f
• Georgian: წავი (ka) (c̣avi)
• German: Otter (de) m
• Greek: βίδρα (el) f (vídra)

  Ancient: ἔνυδρις f (énudris)

• Halkomelem: sq'á:tl'
• Hebrew: לוּטְרָה (he) f (lútra), כֶּלֶב נָהָר m (kélev nahar)
• Hindi: ऊदबिलाव (hi) m (ūdbilāv), ऊद (hi) m (ūd)
• Hungarian: vidra (hu)
• Icelandic: otur (is) m
• Ido: lutro (io)
• Indonesian: berang-berang (id)
• Irish: dobharchú (ga) m, madra uisce (ga) m, dobhrán (ga) m, cú dobhráin (ga) m

  Old Irish: doburchú f

• Italian: lontra (it) f
• Japanese: (freshwater) 獺 (ja) (かわうそ, kawauso), 川獺 (ja) (かわうそ, kawauso), カワウソ (ja) (kawauso), (marine) 海獺 (ja) (らっこ, rakko), ラッコ (ja) (rakko)
• Jingpho: shäram
• Kashmiri: وۄدُر (vọdur)
• Kazakh: кәмшат (kämşat), қамшат (qamşat)
• Khmer: ភេ (km) (phei)
• Komi-Zyrian: вурд (vurd)
• Korean: 수달 (ko) (sudal)
• Kyrgyz: кундуз (ky) (kunduz)
• Ladin: lontra ?
• Ladino: lontra
• Lao: ນາກ (nāk)
• Latgalian: iudrys m
• Latin: lutra f
• Latvian: ūdrs m
• Laz: წვინარი (ǯvinari)
• Lithuanian: ūdra (lt) f
• Low German: Otter m
• Lun Bawang: dengen
• Macedonian: видра f (vidra)
• Malay: anjing air, berang-berang, memerang

  Jawi: انجيڠ اءير, برڠ٢

• Malayalam: നീർനായ (nīṟnāya)
• Maltese: lontra f
• Manchu: ᡥᠠᡳᠯᡠᠨ (hailun)
• Manx: dooarchoo m, moddey ushtey (gv) m
• Maori: ōtā
• Marathi: पाणमांजर ? (pāṇmāñjar)
• Mi'kmaq: giwnig anim
• Mingrelian: წვინარი (c̣vinari)
• Mon: ဖေံ
• Mongolian: халиг (xalig), халиу (mn) (xaliu)
• Navajo: tábąąstíín
• Nepali: उद्र (udra), ओत (ot)
• Northern Sami: čeavrris
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: oter (no) m

  Nynorsk: oter m

• Occitan: loira (oc) f
• Odia: ଓଧ (odha)
• Old East Slavic: вꙑдра f (vydra)
• Old English: otor m
• Ossetian:

  Digor: урдӕ (urdæ)

  Iron: уырд (wyrd)

• Ottoman Turkish: صو سموری (su samuru)
• Persian: سمور آبی (samur-e âbi)
• Pipil: ākuyūt
• Pirahã: pibaóí
• Polish: wydra (pl) f
• Portuguese: lontra (pt) f
• Romanian: lutră (ro) f, vidră (ro) f
• Romansch: ludra f, lutra f
• Russian: вы́дра (ru) f (výdra)
• Sanskrit: उद्र (sa) m (udra)
• Santali: ᱚᱫᱟᱢ (sat) (ôdam), ᱩᱫᱟᱢ (udam)
• Saraiki: اُدڑ m (udṛ)
• Sardinian: lontra ?
• Scottish Gaelic: dòbhran m, biast-dubh f, dobhar-chù m, biast-donn f (Islay), madadh-donn m (South Argyll, Arran), cù-donn m (Sutherland)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ви̏дра f

  Roman: vȉdra (sh) f

• Siberian Tatar: ҡамнау (qamnau)
• Sicilian: lutra (scn) f
• Slovak: vydra f
• Slovene: vidra (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wudra f

  Upper Sorbian: wudra f

• Southern Altai: камду (kamdu)
• Southern Sami: tjeavra
• Spanish: nutria (es) f, lutria (es) f
• Sranan Tongo: watradagu
• Sundanese: séro
• Svan: წიუ̂ე̄რ (c̣iûēr)
• Swahili: ota (sw)
• Swedish: utter (sv) c
• Tagal Murut: tilung
• Tagalog: dungon
• Tajik: самури обӣ (samur-i obi), сагобӣ (sagobi), саги обӣ (sag-i obi)
• Tamil: நீர்நாய் (ta) (nīrnāy)
• Telugu: ఉద్రము (udramu), నీటి కుక్క (nīṭi kukka), నీరుకుక్క (te) (nīrukukka), నీరుపిల్లి (te) (nīrupilli)
• Thai: นาก (th) (nâak)
• Tigrinya: ጣቑስታ (ṭax̣usta)
• Turkish: su samuru (tr), lutr (tr)
• Turkmen: gunduz
• Udmurt: вад (vad), вудор (vudor)
• Ukrainian: ви́дра f (výdra)
• Urdu: اودبلاؤ m (ūd-bilā'o)
• Uyghur: قۇندۇز (qunduz), قاما (qama)
• Uzbek: qunduz (uz)
• Venetan: lùdria f, lodra
• Vietnamese: rái cá (vi), rái (vi)
• Volapük: lutar (vo)
• Walloon: lote (wa)
• Welsh: dyfrgi (cy) m, dwrgi m
• West Coast Bajau: dongor, embirud
• West Frisian: fiskotter ?
• Yámana: éepux
• Yiddish: ווידרע f (vidre)
• Zhuang: nag

slender hairy man

• Finnish: apina (fi)
• French: loutre (fr) f
• Georgian: წავი (ka) (c̣avi), მგელი (mgeli) (literally "wolf")
• Japanese: 熊 (ja) (くま, kuma)
• Navajo: ditłʼoiitsʼózí
• Swedish: utter (sv)
• Turkish: (literally "bear") ayı (tr)

Etymology 2

Corruption of annotto.

Noun

otter (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) annatto (dye)

Etymology 3

Noun

otter (uncountable)

1. Archaic form of attar.
   • 1809, William Jones, A Grammar of the Persian Language, page 8:

     […] the precious perfume called otter of roses.

References

• “otter”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• toter, Treto, torte, Ortet, Tetro, ortet, ETRTO

Danish

Alternative forms

• 8'er

Etymology

From otte (“eight”) +‎ -er.

Noun

otter c (singular definite otteren, plural indefinite ottere)

1. eight (the card rank between seven and nine)
2. eight (person or thing that is number eight in a system, e.g.bus #8)
3. (sports, rowing) eight

Inflection

Declension of otter

common gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	otter	otteren	ottere	otterne
genitive	otters	otterens	otteres	otternes

See also

Playing cards in Danish · kort, spillekort (layout · text)
es	toer	treer	firer	femmer	sekser	syver
otter	nier	tier	knægt, bonde	dame, dronning	konge	joker

References

• “otter” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch otter, from Old Dutch *ottar, from Proto-West Germanic *otr.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔ.tər/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ot‧ter
• Rhymes: -ɔtər

Noun

otter m (plural otters, diminutive ottertje n)

1. Any otter.
2. (particularly) European otter, Lutra lutra

   Synonym: visotter

Derived terms

• visotter
• zeeotter

Descendants

• Berbice Creole Dutch: otro

Further reading

• otter on the Dutch Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^nl

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *ottar, from Proto-West Germanic *otr.

Noun

otter m

1. otter, European otter

Inflection

Strong masculine noun

	singular	plural
nominative	otter	ottere, otters
accusative	otter	ottere, otters
genitive	otters	ottere
dative	ottere	otteren

Descendants

• Dutch: otter
  • Berbice Creole Dutch: otro
• Limburgish: ódder

Further reading

• “otter”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “otter”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

Middle English

Noun

otter

1. alternative form of oter