but

The story

1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*biūtan
2. Old English · inherited frombūtan“without, outside of, except, only”
3. Middle English · inherited frombut
4. English todaybut

From Middle English but, buten, boute, bouten, from Old English būtan (“without, outside of, except, only”), from Proto-West Germanic *biūtan, *biūtini, equivalent to be- + out. Cognate with Scots but, bot (“outside, without, but”), Saterland Frisian buute (“without”), West Frisian bûten (“outside of, apart from, other than, except, but”), Dutch buiten (“outside”), Dutch Low Saxon buten (“outside”), German Low German buuten, buute (“outside”), obsolete German baußen (“outside”), Luxembourgish baussen. Compare bin, about.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• 16th–19th c. That.