butch

Etymology

It is probably a clipping from English butcher, although the dictionaries trace the path differently.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} The revised OED takes the knife sense as short for butch knife and the other senses as shortened directly from butcher.^[2] Green's Dictionary of Slang also derives it from butcher, seen figuratively as a "man of blood", a violent person.^[5] Barnhart dates it to 1930, in Damon Runyon, as the nickname of a tough character, popularized by the nickname of the outlaw George "Butch" Cassidy in the early 1900s, and probably from a dialect butch, a vendor (as in news butch), short for butcher.^[3] Etymonline likewise starts from Cassidy's nickname (1902) and calls it probably an abbreviation of butcher.^[4] The American Heritage Dictionary and Merriam-Webster derive the slang word probably from the male nickname Butch,^[8][9] and Dictionary.com apparently from that name.^[10] The Shorter Oxford calls the origin uncertain,^[7] and Collins calls it a back-formation from butcher and dates it to the 18th century.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A knife, especially a butcher's or hunter's knife, in the American South: 1859, in H. E. Taliaferro's Fisher's River, which refers to the 1820s.^[2][5] As a nickname for a tough, violent or physically fit man it is recorded from 1873.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From 1891 butch was also short for butcher in the sense of a seller of newspapers and refreshments on trains;^[2] in Australian soldiers' slang of the First World War it was a doctor.^[5] Damon Runyon's story "Butch Minds the Baby" (1930) shows the nickname for a tough man,^[5][3] and in the US Army of 1940 "Butch" was the commanding officer.^[5] The adjective, overtly masculine, is recorded by Dalzell from 1936, by the OED from 1939;^[12][2] the same year brought the butch haircut, a crew cut.^[2][9] In gay slang the word first applied to men and women alike, and later mostly to lesbians:^[12] the noun for a lesbian of masculine appearance or manner, often contrasted with femme, is recorded from 1947,^[2] and Etymonline puts it in the 1940s.^[4] From 1963 it was also used of the dominant partner in a male couple,^[2] and in 1964 the phrase butch up, to make oneself more masculine, appears.^[2][5] Since 1987 the adjective has also meant simply strong or rugged.^[2] A separate dialect verb butch, to slaughter or to work as a butcher, a back-formation from butcher, is recorded from 1656 and was used in Scotland and the north of England;^[2][7][13] Merriam-Webster also gives it the dialect sense "to botch".^[9]

Timeline

• 1859 – a knife, especially a butcher's knife (US South).^[2][5]
• 1873 – a nickname for a tough or strong man.^[2]
• 1891 – a butcher, especially a seller on trains.^[2]
• 1902 – in the nickname of the outlaw George "Butch" Cassidy.^[4]
• 1919 – a doctor, in Australian soldiers' slang.^[5]
• 1930 – Butch as a tough man's nickname in Damon Runyon.^[3][5]
• 1936 – adjective, overtly masculine.^[12]
• 1939 – adjective, tough, masculine; a crew cut.^[2]
• 1941 – a masculine person, according to Merriam-Webster.^[9][4]
• 1947 – a lesbian of masculine appearance or manner.^[2]
• 1963 – the dominant partner in a male couple.^[2]
• 1964 – butch up, to make oneself more masculine.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Markedly or deliberately masculine in looks or manner, used especially of lesbians and gay men.^{[11][8][9][2]}
2. Typical of a tough man; strong and rugged.^[2]

Noun

1. (sometimes offensive) A lesbian whose looks or manner are regarded as masculine, often contrasted with a femme.^[11][2][8]
2. A tough, strong man, often as a nickname.^[11][2][5]
3. A close-cropped haircut; a crew cut.^[9][8][2]

Verb

1. butch up: to make oneself look or act more masculine.^[2][5]

Word family

• butchness
• butchy

Related words

• butcher
• femme

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b c Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
13. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)