Where does “butter” come from?
Butter comes from Old French burre, from Latin būtȳrum, from Greek boútyron, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European bʰew- meaning to grow or swell.
butter (English): A soft, fatty foodstuff made by churning the...
Definitions
- A soft, fatty foodstuff made by churning the...
Ancestry of “butter”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | butter | Alternative form of buter |
| 2 | Middle English | buter | butter |
| 3 | Old English | butere | butter |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | buterā | butter |
| 5 | Latin | būtȳrum | — |
| 6 | Ancient Greek | βούτυρον | butter |
| 7 | Ancient Greek | τυρός | cheese |
| 8 | Proto-Hellenic | tūrós | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | tuh₂-ró-s | — |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | tewh₂- | to swell; to crowd; to be strong |
Words derived from “butter”