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Etymology and origin of the English word putter

Pronunciation

  • /ˈpʌtə(ɹ)/[1]
  • US: /ˈpʌtɚ/, /-ɾɚ/[1]

putter1 one who puts or throws

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1382 before 1382, early Wycliffite Bible
Ultimate origins
Old English *putianProto-Germanic *-ārī
Etymology tree of putter1
inherited borrowed derived
English put
English putter
From the same root · putter1
English input ← put
English output ← put
English putt ← put
English throughput ← put

Etymology

The word for one who puts or throws is formed from English put + -er,[2][3][4] in Middle English puttere, from putten and -ere.[5] The OED gives the thrower of a heavy weight its own entry with the same formation, from the verb's sense to throw.[2] The verb's further origin is unknown.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

An animal that butts with its head or horns: before 1382, in the early version of the Wycliffite Bible.[2] Etymonline likewise gives the late 14th century.[3]

Semantic evolution

The butting animal lasted until 1825, by then in Scottish use.[2] The general sense, a person or thing that puts, appears before 1400 in the Cursor Mundi,[2] early in the 15th century in Etymonline,[3] and it often takes an adverb: putter-down, putter-off, putter-out, putter-up.[4] Johnson (1755) gave "one who puts", with L'Estrange's "putters of cases", and "putter on", an instigator, from Shakespeare.[6] A few narrower uses died out: in Scots, probably the horn of a chamfron (1516), and an instrument for crimping a ruff (1583).[2] The thrower of a stone or weight is recorded in 1574,[2] though Etymonline and Barnhart first find him in 1820, the latter in shot-putter.[3][7] In coal mining a putter pushed trams or barrows of coal from the workings,[2][4] a word used in Scotland, Northumberland, Durham, Cumberland, Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cheshire.[8]

Timeline

  • before 1382 – an animal that butts (obsolete by 1825).[2]
  • before 1400 – a person or thing that puts.[2]
  • 1574 – a person who throws a heavy stone or other weight.[2] Etymonline and Barnhart date this sense to 1820.[3][7]
  • 1812 – in coal mining, a person who propels trams or barrows of coal.[2] The Shorter Oxford dates it to the early 18th century.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A person or thing that puts: a putter of hard riddles.[5][2][6]
  2. A person who throws the shot or another heavy weight.[2][4]
  3. (coal mining, historical) A person employed to move trams or barrows of coal from the workings.[2][4][8]
  4. (obsolete, before 1382–1825) An animal that butts with its head or horns.[2][4]

Word family

  • shot-putter

putter2 golf club

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1743
Ultimate origins
Old English *putianProto-Germanic *-ārī
Etymology tree of putter2
inherited borrowed derived
English put
English putt
English putter
From the same root · putter2
English input ← put
English output ← put
English throughput ← put

Etymology

The word for the golf club is formed from English putt + -er.[2][7][5][4][3] The verb is originally a variant of put, in a special Scottish use and pronunciation.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A golf club used for putting: 1743, in Barnhart, Etymonline and Merriam-Webster Unabridged.[7][3][5] The revised OED's first quotation is of 1783.[2]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline describes the early club as stiff and comparatively short in the staff, for a ball lying a short distance from the hole.[3] The OED and Collins describe it as having a metal head.[2][9] From 1842 the word was also used of a player, usually one judged by skill at putting, as a good or poor putter.[2][4]

Timeline

  • 1743 – a golf club for putting.[7][3][5] The OED's first quotation is of 1783.[2]
  • 1842 – a player who putts.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A golf club with a short shaft and a nearly upright face, used to hit the ball gently towards the hole.[5][9][10][2]
  2. A golfer who putts, or one considered for skill at putting: She was a steady putter under pressure.[5][9][10][2]

putter3 to keep busy idly

Confidence
Probable
First attested
1827 M. A. Hedge, Fortunate Employ
Ultimate origin
Old English potian
Etymology tree of putter3
inherited borrowed derived
English potter
English putter

Etymology

The word for keeping busy idly is apparently from English a variant of potter.[2][3][7][5][10][11] That verb is probably a frequentative of Middle English poten (“to poke, push”),[10][2] from Old English potian.[10][9] It meant to poke repeatedly from the 1520s and to busy oneself in a trifling way from 1740.[3] The OED also compares the earlier verb pother and perhaps pudder.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To occupy oneself aimlessly: 1827, in M. A. Hedge's Fortunate Employ.[2][5] Etymonline dates it to 1841, originally among farmers,[3] and Barnhart to 1877, as American English, in Louisa May Alcott's Under Lilacs.[7]

Semantic evolution

The word took over the senses of the earlier verb, and it has been mainly North American,[4][9] usually with about or around.[5][9][2] It can also mean to move or act slowly or lackadaisically.[5][9] A transitive use, often with away, is recorded from 1911.[2] The agent noun putterer is recorded from 1853.[2]

Timeline

  • 1827 – to occupy oneself aimlessly, frequently with about or around.[2][5] Etymonline dates it to 1841, and Barnhart to 1877.[3][7]
  • 1911 – transitive, frequently with away.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To busy oneself in an aimless but agreeable way, usually with about or around: She spent the morning puttering around the shed.[9][5][2]
  2. To move or act slowly, with little energy or direction: They puttered along the towpath all afternoon.[9][5]
  3. To spend or waste time idly, usually with away.[9][2]

Noun

  1. The act of puttering.[9]

Word family

  • putterer
  • putteringly

Usage notes

The OED gives /ˈpʊtə/ for one who puts and /ˈpʊtə/ or /ˈpʌtə/ for the thrower of a weight, but only /ˈpʌtə/ for the golf club and the idling verb.[2] Barnhart finds it hard to say when the golfing and shot-putting pronunciations separated, and notes that the OED distinguished them in 1909.[7] The idling verb is the American and Canadian form, and British English uses potter.[9]

A further verb putter, to make the rapid intermittent sound of a small engine or to travel with that sound, is imitative, and is the same as put-put.[2][5][12][4] The OED records it from 1824, though Oxford's smaller dictionaries date it to the mid 20th century.[2][12][4] The OED also has a putter meaning to mutter (1611, in Cotgrave), probably a blend of patter and mutter,[2] and a putter meaning a small cannon (1646), a variant of petard, which Wright records as obsolete Scots.[2][8]

References

  1. ^ a b 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 z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  8. ^ a b c 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)
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  10. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  12. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
Cite this entry

“Putter.” Etymologically, 6 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/putter. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

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