teetotaler

English

Alternative forms

• teetotaller (British)

Etymology

From teetotal +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtitoʊtəlɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtiːtəʊtələ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: tee‧to‧tal‧er

Noun

teetotaler (plural teetotalers)

1. (American spelling) A person who completely abstains from alcoholic beverages.
   • 2025 November 21, Tom Nichols, “The President Is Losing Control of Himself”, in The Atlantic‎^[1], archived from the original on 22 November 2025:

     [Richard] Nixon was becoming erratic and drinking too much, so [James] Schlesinger told the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that any “unusual” orders from Nixon should be routed over to him. […] [Donald] Trump is famously a teetotaler, but he has publicly surpassed Nixon’s anguish and paranoia.

Related terms

• teetotal
• teetotally
• teetotaling
• teetotalism

Translations

person who completely abstains from alcohol

• Afrikaans: geheelonthouer (af)
• Arabic: مُمْتَنِع عَنْ الْخُمُور (mumtaniʕ ʕan al-ḵumūr), مُمْتَنِع عَنْ الْمُسْكِرَات (mumtaniʕ ʕan al-muskirāt), مُمْتَنِع عَنْ شُرْب الْكُحُول (mumtaniʕ ʕan šurb al-kuḥūl)
• Bulgarian: трезвеник (bg) m (trezvenik), трезвеница f (trezvenica)
• Catalan: abstemi (ca) m, aiguader m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 滴酒不沾的人

• Czech: abstinent (cs) m, abstinentka (cs) f
• Danish: afholdsmand (da) c
• Dutch: geheelonthouder (nl) m, geheelonthoudster f
• Esperanto: abstinenculo
• Estonian: karsklane
• Finnish: absolutisti (fi), raitis (fi), maitopoika
• French: abstème (fr) m or f, abstinent (fr) m, abstinente (fr) f, néphaliste (fr) m or f
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Abstinenzler (de) m, Abstinenzlerin (de) f, Antialkoholiker (de) m, Antialkoholikerin (de) f, Temperenzler m, Temperenzlerin f, Alkoholgegner m, Alkoholgegnerin f, Abstinent m (Swiss German), Abstinentin f (Swiss German), Nichttrinker (de) m, Nichttrinkerin (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: ὑδατοπότης m (hudatopótēs)

• Hungarian: antialkoholista (hu)
• Irish: staonaire m
• Italian: astemio (it) m, astemia (it) f
• Japanese: 下戸 (ja) (geko)
• Kashubian: abstinent m
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: тре́звеник m (trézvenik)
• Māori: wainamu, tītotara
• Polish: abstynent (pl) m, abstynentka (pl) f, niepijący m, niepijąca f
• Portuguese: abstémio (pt) m (Portugal), abstémia f (Portugal), abstêmio (pt) m (Brazil), abstêmia f (Brazil)
• Romanian: abstinent (ro) m, antialcoolic (ro) m
• Russian: тре́звенник (ru) m (trézvennik), тре́звенница (ru) f (trézvennica)
• Slovak: abstinent m, abstinentka f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: abstinenclaŕ m, antialkoholikaŕ m

• Spanish: abstemio (es) m, abstemia (es) f, temperante (es) m or f, aguado (es) m
• Swedish: absolutist (sv) c, helnykterist (sv) c, nykterist (sv) c
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: llwyrymwrthodwr m, dirwestwr m, llwyrymataliwr m