butterfingers

See also: butter fingers

English

WOTD – 11 May 2022

Etymology

From butter +‎ fingers (suggesting that someone is clumsy and drops things as if their hands are coated in slippery butter), from butterfingered.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbʌtəˌfɪŋɡəz/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbʌtɚˌfɪŋɡɚz/, [-ɾɚ-]

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: but‧ter‧fing‧ers

Noun

butterfingers (plural butterfingers) (idiomatic, informal)

1. Someone who tends to drop things; (more generally) someone who is clumsy or uncoordinated; a klutz.

   Synonym: (less common) butterfinger

   I am such a butterfingers. That’s the third drink I’ve spilled today.

   • 1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “How Mr. Winkle, instead of Shooting at the Pigeon and Killing the Crow, Shot at the Crow and Wounded the Pigeon; […]”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC, page 69:

     [A]t every bad attempt at a catch, and every failure to stop the ball, he launched his personal displeasure at the head of the devoted individual in such denunciations as—"Ah, ah!—stupid"—"Now butter-fingers"—"Muff"—"Humbug"—and so forth—ejaculations which seemed to establish him in the opinion of all around, as a most excellent and undeniable judge of the whole art and mystery of the noble game of cricket.

   • 1883, Frances I[sabelle] M. Kershaw, “Master Me”, in Baby: A Study of Baby Life, London: Burns and Oates, […], →OCLC, page 95:

     “[…] Please don't handle them [birds’ eggs], Me! They are very fragile, and I would’nt^{[sic – meaning wouldn’t]} lose them for anything.” / “I must hold them—just this once,” persists Me. “Don’t think I shall be such a butter[-]fingers as to break them. I’ve handled heaps of eggs before these!”

2. One's fingers which tend to drop things, or are clumsy or uncoordinated.
   • 2014, Scott Ciencin, chapter 1, in Luck Be a Lady […] (Charmed), New York, N.Y.: Simon Spotlight Entertainment, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division, →ISBN, page 4:

     “I guess everyone’s got butterfingers around here,” Cole said with a sly smile. “Lucky for us, I’ve got fast reflexes.”

   • 2017, Cora Seton, chapter 9, in Issued to the Bride: One Marine, San Bernardino, Calif.: One Acre Press, →ISBN:

     “That boy’s got butterfingers,” Connor went on. “That’s twice he’s dropped a tool. He’s got no place on a construction site.”

3. A tendency to drop things, or to be clumsy or uncoordinated.

Alternative forms

• butter fingers

Derived terms

• butterfinger

Related terms

• butterfingered

Translations

someone who tends to drop things

• Czech: nemehlo (cs) n
• Finnish: mämmikoura (fi), nakkisormi (fi), rähmäkäpälä (fi), pääsiäiskäsi
• German: Tollpatsch (de) m, Tölpel (de) m
• Greek: μανταλάκιας m (mantalákias)
• Hungarian: kétbalkezes (hu), lyukaskezű
• Italian: mano di pastafrolla m
• Maori: ninipa
• Portuguese: mão furada f
• Russian: растяпа (ru) (rastjapa)
• Spanish: manazas (es) m or f, manos muertas m or f, torpe (es) m or f

someone who is clumsy or uncoordinated

• Czech: gramloň m (Moravia), motovidlo (cs) n, nemehlo (cs) n, nešika m or f, poleno (cs) n
• French: avoir deux mains gauches (fr), maladroit (fr)
• Galician: zoupón
• German: Mensch mit zwei linken Händen m, unbeholfener Mensch m, ungeschickte Person f
• Greek: ζημιάρης (el) m (zimiáris)
• Russian: ру́ки из жо́пы расту́т (rúki iz žópy rastút, literally “hands growing from the buttocks”), ру́ки как крюки́ (rúki kak krjukí, literally “hands like hooks”)
• Spanish: manazas (es) m or f, manos de manteca

one’s fingers which tend to drop things, or are clumsy or uncoordinated

tendency to drop things, or to be clumsy or uncoordinated

Further reading

• butterfingers (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia