Etymology

buttress

B3U1T1T1R1E1S1S1

Today it means: A brick, concrete or stone structure built against another structure to support it. Full definition →

Old French ars bouterez ← Frankish *bôtan ← Proto-Germanic *bautaną
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*bautaną“to push”
  2. Frankish · derived from*bôtan
  3. Old French · derived fromars bouterez
  4. English todaybuttress

From Old French ars bouterez (noun, literally “supporting arcs”), from bouterez (adjective), oblique plural of bouteret (rare in the singular), from Frankish *bôtan, from Proto-Germanic *bautaną (“to push”). Ultimately cognate with beat.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Germanic*bautaną all →

buttbossemboss

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.