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Etymology and origin of the French word buter

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1289 More words from the 13th century
Ultimate origins
Old Norse bútrFrench -er
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French but
French buter
From the same root
French butte ← but

Pronunciation

Forms

buter[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French but + -er.[2][3][4][5][6] But “target” is of doubtful origin; it may be from Old Norse butr (“log, block”), a piece of wood that could serve as a target in archery.[7][6][8] Littré took the transitive verb for another form of bouter.[5]

The slang verb “to kill” is derived differently by the Grand Robert, the Petit Robert and Rey: it is from slang butte “scaffold”, recorded in 1821, a metonymic use of the same word in the sense “mound”, on which the scaffold was set up.[2][3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1289 of a piece of land that touches or reaches as far as a given point, a sense that lasted until the 17th century.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

Bloch and Wartburg give the senses “to strike” and “to aim” in the 14th century.[6] From the idea of touching something violently came the modern sense “to stumble, knock against” (1539), which in turn gave the figurative “to come up against”.[7] The pronominal se buter, of a person, means “to dig one's heels in” (1636), and the past participle buté has qualified an obstinate person since 1690.[7] The same idea of contact gave the architectural sense “to prop, to buttress” (1694).[7] In the 16th century buter à meant “to aim at, tend towards”, a use now old.[5][9]

In slang buter means “to kill” (1821), a use that has become common in familiar speech.[7][2] In African French it is used in football for “to score a goal”.[7]

Timeline

  • 1289 – Used of land reaching as far as a point.[2][7]
  • 14th century – “To strike, to aim”.[6]
  • 1500 – Pasquier's use, the Grand Robert's first date for the modern verb.[2][3]
  • 1539 – “To knock against”.[7]
  • 1636 – Se buter “to dig one's heels in”.[7]
  • 1676 – The derivative butée is recorded.[7]
  • 1690 – Buté “obstinate”.[7]
  • 1694 – “To prop, buttress” in architecture.[7]
  • 1821 – Slang buter “to kill”.[2][3][7]
  • 1863 – Butoir in its modern sense.[6]
  • 1960 – The Larousse records it as a term of Basque pelota.[10]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (intransitive) To stumble, to strike one's foot against something: Elle a buté contre une racine.[3][2][9]
  2. (intransitive, figurative) To come up against a difficulty.[3][9] Buter sur un mot: to have trouble saying or reading a word.[3][9]
  3. (intransitive) To rest or press against something that holds it in place.[3][4]
  4. (transitive, construction) To prop, buttress (a wall, a vault).[9][3][7]
  5. (transitive) To make (someone) dig in their heels.[9] Se buter: to become obstinate.[9][7]
  6. (slang) To kill, to bump off.[2][3][1]
  7. (obsolete) Buter à: to aim at, tend towards.[9][2][5]
  8. (billiards) To hit the target.[9]

Word family

  • buté
  • butée
  • butoir

Usage notes

The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert treat slang buter “to kill” as a separate verb (the Grand Robert's buter 2), sometimes also spelled butter.[2][3] The horticultural verb butter “to earth up (plants)”, from butte, was first spelled buter (1694).[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  6. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 15/2, 34a
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  10. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
Cite this entry

“Buter.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/buter. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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