Meanings
rotter1
plural rotters
- AustraliaUKslangA despicable, worthless person; a scoundrel.
Some Johnny with brains produces a hypothesis. Everybody calls him a rotter at first. But he remains calm in the face of opprobrium.
1908 August, George A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter VII, in Spanish Gold, 2nd edition, London: Methuen & Co. […], published September 1908, →OCLC, page 761 more example
Calvin could be anywhere in this zoo. I hope he at least has the sense to stay put, wherever he is. Where would the little rotter go if he was lost and separated from his stuffed toy?
1988 July 26, Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes (comic)
Rotter2
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna person who is deemed to be despicable or contemptible
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Rotter · proper noun
- Old High Germanrût
- Middle High Germanrotte“gang, team”
- EnglishRotter
* As a German surname, variant of Rother. * Also as a German surname, from Middle High German rotte (“gang, team”) (see modern rotten (“to gang up”)). * As a Slovene surname, Americanized or Germanized from Rotar, from dialectal rote (“clearing in the uplands”), itself from Old High German rût; see modern roden (“to clear land”). * As an English surname, variant of Rutter.
More words from Middle High German, Old High German
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with rotter
Anagrams
Cite this entry
rotter. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rotter
“rotter.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rotter. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “rotter,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rotter.
Source: rotter on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.