buter

See also: bûter

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /by.te/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: butai, buté, butée, butées, butés, butez, buttai, butté, buttée, buttées, butter, buttés, buttez

Verb

buter

1. to stop dead
2. to prop up, buttress
3. (figuratively) to kill
4. (figuratively) to obsess; to become obsessed

Conjugation

Conjugation of buter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	buter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	butant /by.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		buté /by.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	bute /byt/	butes /byt/	bute /byt/	butons /by.tɔ̃/	butez /by.te/	butent /byt/
	imperfect	butais /by.tɛ/	butais /by.tɛ/	butait /by.tɛ/	butions /by.tjɔ̃/	butiez /by.tje/	butaient /by.tɛ/
	past historic2	butai /by.te/	butas /by.ta/	buta /by.ta/	butâmes /by.tam/	butâtes /by.tat/	butèrent /by.tɛʁ/
	future	buterai /by.tʁe/	buteras /by.tʁa/	butera /by.tʁa/	buterons /by.tʁɔ̃/	buterez /by.tʁe/	buteront /by.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	buterais /by.tʁɛ/	buterais /by.tʁɛ/	buterait /by.tʁɛ/	buterions /by.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	buteriez /by.tə.ʁje/	buteraient /by.tʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	bute /byt/	butes /byt/	bute /byt/	butions /by.tjɔ̃/	butiez /by.tje/	butent /byt/
	imperfect2	butasse /by.tas/	butasses /by.tas/	butât /by.ta/	butassions /by.ta.sjɔ̃/	butassiez /by.ta.sje/	butassent /by.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	bute /byt/	—	butons /by.tɔ̃/	butez /by.te/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Further reading

• “buter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• brute, rebut, tuber

Middle English

Alternative forms

• buttyr, butter, botyr, buttir, butre, buttur, buttur, boter, buttre
• (Early ME) butera, butere

Etymology

From Old English butere, from Proto-West Germanic *buterā, from Latin būtȳrum, from Ancient Greek βούτῡρον (boútūron).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbutər(ə)/

Noun

buter (uncountable)

1. butter (spread made of churned cream)
   • p. 1154, “AD 1137”, in Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (MS. Laud Misc. 636, continuation), Peterborough, folio 89, verso; republished at Oxford: Digital Bodleian, 2018 February 8:

     þa ƿaſ coꝛn dære: ⁊ flec ⁊ cæſe ⁊ butere. foꝛ nan ƿæſ o þe land. Ƿreccemen ſturuen of hungær.

     Grain was precious then, and meat, cheese, and butter, because there wasn't any in the country. Wretched men died from hunger.

Related terms

• boterflye

Descendants

• English: butter (see there for further descendants)
• Scots: butter, buter
• Yola: buthther, buththere

References

• “buter(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-10.