but

Etymology

From Middle English but, buten, boute, bouten, from Old English būtan (“out of, outside of, off, round about, except, without, all but, but only, besides, in addition to, in spite of, except that, save, but, only, unless, save that, if only, provided that, outside”), equivalent to be- +‎ out. Cognate with Scots but, bot (“outside, without, but”), Saterland Frisian buute (“without”), West Frisian bûten (“outside of, apart from, other than, except, but”), Dutch buiten (“outside”), Dutch Low Saxon buten (“outside”), German Low German buuten, buute (“outside”), obsolete German baußen (“outside”), Luxembourgish baussen. Compare bin, about.

Pronunciation

• (stressed) (UK) IPA^(key): /bʌt/, [bɐt], enPR: bŭt
• (stressed) (US) IPA^(key): /bʌt/, enPR: bŭt

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• (unstressed) IPA^(key): /bət/, enPR: bət
• Rhymes: -ʌt
• Homophone: butt

Preposition

but

1. (obsolete outside Scotland) Outside of.

   Away but the hoose and tell me whae's there.

2. Without, apart from, except.

   Everyone but Father left early.

   I like everything but that.

Adverb

but (not comparable)

1. Merely, only, just.
   • 1791, Robert Burns, "Ae Fond Kiss":

     For to see her was to love her,
     Love but her, and love for ever.

   • 1900, L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz:

     Now the Wicked Witch of the West had but one eye, yet that was as powerful as a telescope, and could see everywhere.

   • 1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York Review Books, 2006, p.49:

     The stony outcrops are often covered but thinly with arable soil; winters are bitingly cold, and rainfall scanty and unpredictable.

   • 1990, Claude de Bèze, 1688 revolution in Siam: the memoir of Father de Bèze, s.j, translated by E. W. Hutchinson, University Press, page 153:

     May the Protector of the Buddhist Faith grant me but seven more days grace of life to be quit of this disloyal couple, father and son.

2. (Australia, conjunctive) Though, however.
   • 1906, "Steele Rudd", Back At Our Selection, page 161:

     "Supposin' the chap ain't dead, but?" Regan persisted.

   I'll have to go home early but.

3. Used as an intensifier.

   Nobody, but nobody, crosses me and gets away with it.

   • 2013 Nora Roberts, Irish Thoroughbred p. 25 (Little, Brown) →ISBN

     "Jakers, but we worked." With a long breath she shut her eyes. "But it was too much for one woman and a half-grown girl […] "

Conjunction

but

1. Except (for), excluding. Often preceded by a negation.

   Nobody answered the door when I knocked, so I had no choice but to leave.

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, London: A[ndrew] Millar, OCLC 928184292:

     In reality, I apprehend every amorous widow on the stage would run the hazard of being condemned as a servile imitation of Dido, but that happily very few of our play-house critics understand enough of Latin to read Virgil.

   • 2011 October 23, Becky Ashton, “QPR 1-0 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport:

     Luiz struggled with the movement of Helguson in the box, as he collected a long ball and the Spaniard barged him over, leaving referee Chris Foy little option but to point to the spot.

2. On the contrary, but rather (introducing a word or clause that contrasts with or contradicts the preceding clause or sentence without the not).

   I am not rich but (I am) poor;  not John but Peter went there

3. However, although, nevertheless (implies that the following clause is contrary to prior belief or contrasts with or contradicts the preceding clause or sentence).

   She is very old but still attractive.

   You told me I could do that, but she said that I could not.

   • 2013 July 19, Ian Sample, “Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 34:

     Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits.  ¶ Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.

   • 2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55:

     Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.

4. Except that (introducing a subordinate clause which qualifies a negative statement); also, with omission of the subject of the subordinate clause, acting as a negative relative, "except one that", "except such that".
   • 1603, John Florio, transl.; Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes, […], printed at London: […] Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:
     , II.15:

     There is no reason but hath another contrary unto it, saith the wisest party of Philosophers.

   • Shakespeare

     And but my noble Moor is true of mind […] it were enough to put him to ill thinking.

   • 1820, John Keats, ‘Lamia’, Lamia & Other Poems:

     A deadly silence step by step increased, / Until it seem'd a horrid presence there, / And not a man but felt the terror in his hair.

   I cannot but feel offended.

5. (archaic) Without its also being the case that; unless that (introducing a necessary concomitant).

   It never rains but it pours.

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.vi:

     No arboret with painted blossomes drest, / And smelling sweet, but there it might be found […]

6. (obsolete) Except with; unless with; without.
   • Fuller

     So insolent that he could not go but either spurning equals or trampling on his inferiors.

   • Motto of the Mackintoshes

     Touch not the cat but a glove.

7. (obsolete) Only; solely; merely.
   • Milton

     Observe but how their own principles combat one another.

   • Bible, 2 Kings vii. 4

     If they kill us, we shall but die.

   • Dryden

     a formidable man but to his friends

8. (obsolete) until
   • Shakespeare, Macbeth

     'Tshall not be long but I'll be here again.

Noun

but (plural buts)

1. An instance or example of using the word "but".

   It has to be done – no ifs or buts.

2. (Scotland) The outer room of a small two-room cottage.
3. A limit; a boundary.
4. The end; especially the larger or thicker end, or the blunt, in distinction from the sharp, end; the butt.

Verb

but (third-person singular simple present buts, present participle butting, simple past and past participle butted)

1. (archaic) Use the word "but".

   But me no buts.

Derived terms

References

• but at OneLook Dictionary Search
• but in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Anagrams

• BTU, TBU, tub

Etymology

From Middle Low German butt.

Adjective

but

1. (rare) blunt

Pronunciation

• (France) IPA^(key): /byt/, /by/
• (Quebec) IPA^(key): /by/

• audio

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Middle French but (“mark, goal”), from Old French but (“aim, goal, end, target”), from Old French butte (“mound, knoll, target”), from Frankish *but (“stump, log”), or from Old Norse bútr (“log, stump, butt”); both from Proto-Germanic *butą (“end, piece”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰÀud- (“to beat, push”). The semantic development from "mound" to "target" is likely from martial training practice (see target). Cognate with Old English butt (“tree stump”). More at butt.

Etymology 2

From boire.

Further reading

• “but” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /buːt/

Noun

but m (plural bwiet)

1. pocket

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /but/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

but m inan

1. shoe
2. boot

Adjective

but (comparative majbut, superlative legmajbut)

1. many

Noun

but (plural buts)

1. The outer room of a small two-room cottage.

Preposition

but

1. Outside of, without.

Etymology

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish [script needed] (but, bud) (Turkish but, bud).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bût/

Noun

bȕt m (Cyrillic spelling бу̏т)

1. thigh
2. ham

References

• “but” in Hrvatski jezični portal

Etymology

From Old Turkic būt‎, from Proto-Turkic.

Noun

but (definite accusative butu, plural butlar)

1. thigh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /but/

Noun

but (plural buts)

1. boot