butt

butt · noun, verb¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*dʰewbʰ-“deep”
2. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*bʰudʰmḗn ~ *bʰudʰn-
3. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*bʰudʰnós“bottom”
4. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*buttaz“end, piece”
5. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*butt
6. Old English · inherited frombyt
7. Middle English · inherited frombut
8. English todaybutt

From Middle English but, butte (“goal, mark, butt of land”), from Old English byt, bytt (“small piece of land”) and *butt (attested in diminutive Old English buttuc (“end, small piece of land”) > English buttock), from Proto-West Germanic *butt, from Proto-Germanic *buttaz (“end, piece”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰnós (“bottom”), later thematic variant of Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn ~ *bʰudʰn-, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“deep”). Cognate with Norwegian butt (“stump, block”), Faroese buttur (“wooden block”), Icelandic bútur (“piece, fragment”), Low German butt (“blunt, clumsy”). Influenced by Old French but, butte (“but, mark”), ultimately from the same Germanic source. Compare also Albanian bythë (“buttocks”), Ancient Greek πυθμήν (puthmḗn, “bottom of vessel”), Latin fundus (“bottom”) and Sanskrit बुध्न (budhná, “bottom”), from the same Proto-Indo-European root. Related to bottom, boot. PIE word *bʰudʰmḗn

butt · verb, noun²

1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*bautaną“to beat, push”
2. Frankish · derived from*bautan“to hit, beat”
3. Anglo-Norman · derived frombuter
4. Middle English · derived frombutten
5. English todaybutt

From Middle English butten, from Anglo-Norman buter, boter (“to push, butt, strike”), from Frankish *bautan (“to hit, beat”), from Proto-Germanic *bautaną (“to beat, push”). Cognate with Old English bēatan (“to beat”). More at beat.

butt · noun³

1. Vulgar Latin · derived from*buttia
2. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*buttjā
3. Old English · derived frombytt
4. Middle English · derived frombitte
5. Late Latin · derived frombuttis“cask”
6. Old French · derived frombot“barrel, wine-skin”
7. Anglo-Norman · derived frombut
8. Middle English · inherited frombote
9. English todaybutt

From late Middle English bote, but, butte (“wine cask”), of disputed origin. Probably (1) from Anglo-Norman but, from Old French bot (“barrel, wine-skin”), Late Latin buttis (“cask”); (2) alternatively, a later form of Middle English bitte, bit, butte (“leather bottle”), from Old English bytt, byt, from Proto-West Germanic *buttjā, from Vulgar Latin *buttia and thus a doublet of boccia.

butt · noun⁴

1. Middle English · inherited frombut
2. English todaybutt

From Middle English but, butte, botte (“flounder; plaice; turbot”), possibly derived from sense 1 (“blunt end”), meaning "blunt-headed fish." Compare Dutch bot and the second element of English halibut. Cognate with West Frisian bot, German Low German Butt, German Butt, Butte, Swedish butta.

butt · noun⁵

Variant of putt.

butt · noun⁶

Originally apparently a less-desired cut, named either due to its often being packed in butts (“casks”) for storage and shipping, or from the use of butt to refer to "the larger or thicker end of something, in distinction from the sharp or narrow end" or "the waste end".

Butt · proper noun⁷

1. French · derived frombut“target, aim”
2. Middle English · derived frombutte“target, goal”
3. English todayButt

* As an English surname, from Middle English butte (“target, goal”), from French but (“target, aim”). * Also as an English surname, from butte (“isolated hill”). * Also as an English surname, from butt (sense 3) (“cask, bottle”). * Also as an English surname, from a nickname related to butt (sense 1) (“thick end”). * As an English and German surname, from butt (sense 4) (“type of flounder”). * As a Kashmiri surname, spelling variant of Bhatt.

Words from the same roots