Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “buster” come from?

Buster comes from English burst with the agent suffix -er, ultimately from Latin -arius, a suffix forming nouns denoting persons or things associated with an action.

buster (English): Someone who or something that bursts, breaks, or...

Definitions

  1. Someone who or something that bursts, breaks, or...

Ancestry of “buster”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishbursterOne who, or that which, bursts or causes to...
2EnglishburstTo break from internal pressure; To cause to...
3Middle Englishbresten—
4Old Englishberstanto break, shatter, burst
5Proto-Germanic*brestan—
6Proto-Germanicbrestanąto burst, break, sunder, split, crack
7Proto-Indo-Europeanbʰres‑to burst; break; crack; crackle

Words derived from “buster”

  • blockbuster
  • sodbuster
  • trustbuster
  • broncobuster
  • cloudbuster
  • ghostbuster
  • gangbuster
  • crimebuster
  • stressbuster
  • tankbuster
  • megablockbuster
  • dambuster
  • nonblockbuster
  • unionbuster
  • middlebuster
  • gutbuster
  • doorbuster
  • brainbuster
  • drugbuster
  • slumpbuster
  • blockbustery
  • rodbuster
  • cultbuster
  • facebuster
Every word from Proto-Indo-European bʰres‑ →