What does "butt" mean?
The larger or thicker end of something; the blunt end, in distinction from the sharp or narrow end; The buttocks or anus (used as a minced oath in idiomatic expressions; less objectionable than arse/ass).
Butt
/bʌt/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Top 500 ·Elementary level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: The larger or thicker end of something; the blunt end, in distinction from the sharp or narrow end; The buttocks or anus (used as a minced oath in idiomatic expressions; less objectionable than arse/ass).
- Grammar: butt is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: backside, buttocks, posterior, rear.
- Useful contrasts: admired figure, agree, anterior.
- Usage evidence: The cause of the fire was his cigarette butt.
How to use "butt"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "butt" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "butt" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "butt" as the right word for your sentence.
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Compare nearby meanings
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- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
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Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "butt" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
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3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
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Final meaning check
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Definitions
Noun
- 1 The larger or thicker end of something; the blunt end, in distinction from the sharp or narrow end; The buttocks or anus (used as a minced oath in idiomatic expressions; less objectionable than arse/ass). Canada, Cumbria, Philippines, US, countable, slang
"Get up off your butt and get to work."
- 2 A push, thrust, or sudden blow, given by the head; a head butt.
"Be careful in the pen, that ram can knock you down with a butt."
- 3 An English measure of capacity for liquids, containing 126 wine gallons which is one-half tun.
"Again, by 28 Hen. VIII, cap. 14, it is re-enacted that the tun of wine should contain 252 gallons, a butt of Malmsey 126 gallons, a pipe 126 gallons, a tercian or puncheon 84 gallons, a hogshead 63 gallons, a tierce 41 gallons, a barrel 31.5 gallons, a rundlet 18.5 gallons. –"
- 4 Any of various flatfish such as sole, plaice or turbot Northern-England
- 5 A heavy two-wheeled cart. Ireland, West-Country, dated
Show 35 more definitions
- 6 The shoulder of an animal, especially the portion above the picnic, as a cut of meat.
"Cut the foot off one inch above the joint, as this makes a much neater looking shoulder. The top third of the shoulder that was removed from the “California ham” is known as the shoulder butt. This piece is divided into lean butt ("Boston Butt") and fat butt ("Clear Plate") […] The lean butt makes an excellent roast."
- 7 Synonym of butty (“a friend or buddy”). Wales, colloquial
"2025, Eleri Griffiths, Woman goes viral after delivery photo catches her in just a towel (BBC News) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2p0n73zmro "He looks up, laughs as he sees the way I'm looking - soaking wet and in a towel - takes a full-blown picture, and just walks off. "I'm like, 'cheers butt'," she added."
- 8 thick end of the handle wordnet
- 9 The larger or thicker end of something; the blunt end, in distinction from the sharp or narrow end; The buttocks or anus (used as a minced oath in idiomatic expressions; less objectionable than arse/ass).; The whole buttocks and pelvic region that includes one's private parts. Canada, Cumbria, Philippines, US, countable, slang
"I can see your butt."
- 10 A thrust in fencing.
"To prove who gave the fairer butt, / John shows the chalk on Robert's coat."
- 11 A wooden cask for storing wine, usually containing 126 gallons.
"[…]I escap'd upon a butt of sack which the sailors heav'd o'erboard[…]"
- 12 A three-wheeled cart resembling a wheelbarrow. Ireland, West-Country, dated
- 13 the small unused part of something (especially the end of a cigarette that is left after smoking) wordnet
- 14 The larger or thicker end of something; the blunt end, in distinction from the sharp or narrow end; The buttocks or anus (used as a minced oath in idiomatic expressions; less objectionable than arse/ass).; Body; self. Canada, Cumbria, Philippines, US, countable, metonymically, slang
"Get your butt to the car."
- 15 a large cask (especially one holding a volume equivalent to 2 hogsheads or 126 gallons) wordnet
- 16 The larger or thicker end of something; the blunt end, in distinction from the sharp or narrow end; The thickest and stoutest part of tanned oxhides, used for soles of boots, harness, trunks. countable
- 17 a joint made by fastening ends together without overlapping wordnet
- 18 The waste end of anything.; A used cigarette. countable, slang
"I walked around, picking butts from the street."
- 19 finely ground tobacco wrapped in paper; for smoking wordnet
- 20 The waste end of anything.; A piece of land left unplowed at the end of a field. countable
"c. 1850-1860, Alexander Mansfield Burrill, A New Law Dictionary and Glossary The hay was growing upon headlands and butts in cornfields."
- 21 sports equipment consisting of an object set up for a marksman or archer to aim at wordnet
- 22 The waste end of anything.; Hassock. West-Country, countable, obsolete
- 23 the fleshy part of the human body that you sit on wordnet
- 24 The waste end of anything.; A crust end-piece of a loaf of bread. US, countable
- 25 a victim of ridicule or pranks wordnet
- 26 An end of something, often distinguished in some way from the other end.; The end of a firearm opposite to that from which a bullet is fired. countable
"She was hit in the face with the butt of a shotgun."
- 27 the part of a plant from which the roots spring or the part of a stalk or trunk nearest the roots wordnet
- 28 An end of something, often distinguished in some way from the other end.; The plastic or rubber cap used to cover the open end of a lacrosse stick's shaft in order to reduce injury. countable
- 29 An end of something, often distinguished in some way from the other end.; The portion of a half-coupling fastened to the end of a hose. countable
- 30 An end of something, often distinguished in some way from the other end.; The end of a connecting rod or other like piece, to which the boxing is attached by the strap, cotter, and gib. countable
- 31 An end of something, often distinguished in some way from the other end.; A joint where the ends of two objects come squarely together without scarfing or chamfering. countable
- 32 An end of something, often distinguished in some way from the other end.; A kind of hinge used in hanging doors, etc., so named because it is attached to the inside edge of the door and butts against the casing, instead of on its face, like the strap hinge; also called butt hinge. countable
- 33 An end of something, often distinguished in some way from the other end.; The joint where two planks in a strake meet. countable
- 34 An end of something, often distinguished in some way from the other end.; The blunt back part of an axehead or large blade. Also called the poll. countable
"I put out my hand and felt the meat-chopper hanging to the wall. In a flash I was after him. [...] With one last touch of humanity I turned the blade back and struck him with the butt."
- 35 An end of something, often distinguished in some way from the other end.; The direction from which the wind blows. countable, dated, dialectal, possibly
"[…] when the sun gets round to the butt of the wind, the change, if any is coming, is then to be expected."
- 36 A limit; a bound; a goal; the extreme bound; the end. countable
"Here is my journey's end, here is my butt / And very sea-mark of my utmost sail."
- 37 A limit; a bound; a goal; the extreme bound; the end.; A mark to be shot at; a target. countable
"archery butt [=archery target]"
- 38 A limit; a bound; a goal; the extreme bound; the end.; A person at whom ridicule, jest, or contempt is directed. countable, usually
"He's usually the butt of their jokes."
- 39 A limit; a bound; a goal; the extreme bound; the end.; The hut or shelter of the person who attends to the targets in rifle practice. countable
- 40 A limit; a bound; a goal; the extreme bound; the end.; The entire ground (range) on which archers' target practice takes place. countable, dialectal
"archery butt [=archery ground]"
Verb
- 1 To join at the butt, end, or outward extremity; to terminate; to be bounded; to abut.
"And Barnsdale there doth butt on Don's well-watered ground."
- 2 To strike bluntly, particularly with the head. transitive
"Two harmless lambs are butting one the other."
- 3 to strike, thrust or shove against wordnet
- 4 To strike bluntly with the head. intransitive
"Rams butt at other males during mating season."
- 5 lie adjacent to another or share a boundary wordnet
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 To cut in line (in front of someone). Canada, Eastern, intransitive, transitive
"Teacher! He just butted me!"
- 7 place end to end without overlapping wordnet
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.; A surname from English.
- 2 A surname.; A surname from German.
- 3 A surname.; A surname from Kashmiri.
Example
"The cause of the fire was his cigarette butt."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "butt"?
Common synonyms include: backside, buttocks, posterior, rear, target, abut.
How do you use "butt" in a sentence?
The cause of the fire was his cigarette butt.
How do you pronounce "butt"?
Pronounced /bʌt/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
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”), 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
Etymology 2
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.
Etymology 3
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.
Etymology 4
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.
Etymology 5
Variant of putt.
Etymology 6
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".
Etymology 7
* 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.