but

From Middle English but, buten, boute, bouten, from Old English būtan (“without, outside of, except, only”), from Proto-West Germanic *biūtan, *biūtini, 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.

• (stressed form)
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /bʌt/, [bɐt], enPR: bŭt
  • (US) IPA^(key): /bʌt/, enPR: bŭt
  • (Northern England) IPA^(key): /bʊt/
  • (Ireland) IPA^(key): /bʊʔ/

  • Audio (US):

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  • Audio (General Australian):

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  • Audio (Southern England):

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• (unstressed form) IPA^(key): /bət/, enPR: bət

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌt
• Homophone: butt

but

2. Apart from, except (for), excluding.

   Synonyms: barring, except for, save for; see also Thesaurus:except

   Everyone but Father left early.

   I like everything but that.

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

   • 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.

3. (obsolete outside Scotland) Outside of.

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

but (not comparable)

1. (chiefly literary or poetic) Merely, only, just, no more than

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:merely

   Christmas comes but once a year.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Kings 7:4:

     If they kill us, we shall but die.

   • 1791, Robert Burns, Ae Fond Kiss:

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

   • 1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “Economy”, in Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC:

     In those days, when my hands were much employed, I read but little, but the least scraps of paper which lay on the ground, my holder, or tablecloth, afforded me as much entertainment, in fact answered the same purpose as the Iliad.

   • 1900 May 17, L[yman] Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, Ill., New York, N.Y.: Geo[rge] M[elvin] Hill Co., →OCLC:

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

   • 1975, Monty Python, Monty Python and the Holy Grail:

     Black Knight: "'Tis but a scratch." King Arthur: "A scratch? Your arm's off!"

   • 1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York: Review Books, published 2006, page 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, translated by E. W. Hutchinson, 1688 revolution in Siam: the memoir of Father de Bèze, s.j, 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, Geordie, conjunctive) Though, however.

   Synonyms: even so, nevertheless, notwithstanding, yet; see also Thesaurus:nevertheless

   I'll have to go home early but.

   • 1906, "Steele Rudd", Back At Our Selection, page 161:

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

but

1. However, although, nevertheless, on the other hand (introducing a clause contrary to prior belief or in contrast with 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.

2. On the contrary, rather (as a regular adversative conjunction, introducing a word or clause in contrast or contradiction with the preceding negative clause or sentence).

   I am not rich but [I am] poor.  Not John but Peter went there.

3. (colloquial) Used at the beginning of a sentence to express opposition to a remark.

   But I never said you could do that!

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume IV, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book X:

     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.

   • 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".

   I cannot but feel offended.

   • 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:

     And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
     From this day to the ending of the world,
     But we in it shall be rememberèd—

   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 15, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

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

   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:

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

   • 1819, John Keats, “Lamia”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, →OCLC, part II, page 43:

     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.

   • 1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “Economy”, in Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC:

     In those days, when my hands were much employed, I read but little, but the least scraps of paper which lay on the ground, my holder, or tablecloth, afforded me as much entertainment, in fact answered the same purpose as the Iliad.

5. (colloquial) Used to link an interjection to the following remark as an intensifier.

   Wow! But that's amazing!

   • 1974 February 4, “Bennie and the Jets”, in Elton John (lyrics), Bernie Taupin (music), Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, performed by Elton John, Davey Johnstone, Dee Murray, Nigel Olsson, track 3:

     Say, Candy and Ronnie, have you seen them yet? / Ooh, but they're so spaced out / B-B-B-Bennie and the Jets / Oh, but they're weird and they're wonderful / Oh, Bennie, she's really keen

   • 2013, Nora Roberts, Irish Thoroughbred‎^[1], Little, Brown, →ISBN, page 25:

     "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 […] "

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

   It never rains but it pours.

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

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

   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

     For there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so

7. (obsolete) Except with; unless with; without.
   • 1639, Thomas Fuller, “Unseasonable Discords betwixt King Baldwine and His Mother; Her Strength in Yeelding to Her Sonne”, in The Historie of the Holy Warre, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck, one of the printers to the Universitie of Cambridge [and sold by John Williams, London], →OCLC, book II, page 84:

     This man unable to manage his own happineſſe, grew ſo inſolent that he could not go, but either ſpurning his equals, or trampling on his inferiours.

8. (obsolete) Only; solely; merely.
   • 1641 May, John Milton, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England: And the Cavvses that hitherto have Hindred it; republished as Will Taliaferro Hale, editor, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England (Yale Studies in English; LIV), New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1916, →OCLC:

     Observe but how their own principles combat one another.

   • 1717, John Dryden [et al.], “(please specify |book=I to XV)”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     a formidable man but to his friends

9. (obsolete) Until.
   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

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

10. (obsolete, following a negated expression of improbability) That. [16th–19th c.]
    • 1784, Joshua Reynolds, edited by John Ingamells and John Edgcumbe, The Letters of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Yale, published 2000, page 131:

      It is not impossible but next year I may have the honour of waiting on your Lordship at St. Asaph, If I go to Ireland I certainly will go that way.

    • 1789, John Moore, Zeluco, Valancourt, published 2008, page 132:

      “I am convinced, if you were to press this matter earnestly upon her, she would consent.”
      “It is not impossible but she might,” said Madame de Seidlits […] .

    • 1813 July, Journal of Natural Philosophy:

      It is not improbable but future observations will add Pliny's Well to the class of irregular reciprocators.

• It is generally considered colloquial to use but at the beginning of a sentence, with other conjunctions such as however or nevertheless being preferred in formal writing.
  • But the tool has its uses.
  • However the tool has its uses.
  • Nevertheless the tool has its uses.

• abbur (Chester)
• (except): bar, unless, excepting, excluding, with the exception of, without
• (however): yet, although, ac

but (plural buts)

1. An instance of using the word "but"; an objection or caveat.

   It has to be done—no ifs, ands, or buts.

   But—and this is a big but—you have to come home by sundown.

   • 1922 March 4, “Fed on Fear Too Much”, in The Pathfinder, volume 29, number 1470, Washington, D.C.: Pathfinder Publishing Company, page 33:

     The children are taught to be afraid of winter, of war, of death, of hard times, of disease, of examtinations. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that children so seldom find the conversation of their elders uplifting. It is full of don’ts, buts and nots.

   • 2016 December 28, Concepcion de Leon, “5 Things Well-Meaning People Say to Me That Are Actually Really Offensive”, in Glamour‎^[2], Greenwich, C.T.,  […]: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-02-08:

     "I support you/understand where you're coming from, but..." ¶ No. No "buts" when it comes to other people's survival.

   • 2018 September 17, Catriona Harvey-Jenner, “8 foods you should never eat before a workout”, in Cosmopolitan‎^[3], New York, N.Y.: Hearst Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-01-28:

     But - and this is a pretty important but - it's just as bad to eat the wrong thing before a workout as it is to eat nothing at all.

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.

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.

• “but”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “but”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

• BTU, TBU, tub

From Middle Low German butt.

but

1. (rare) blunt

Inflection of but
	Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Indefinte common singular	but	—	—2
Indefinite neuter singular	but	—	—2
Plural	butte	—	—2
Definite attributive1	butte	—	—
1) When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite, the corresponding "indefinite" form is used. 2) The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.

• stump

• spids

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 *buttaz (“end, piece”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewd- (“to beat, push”).

Cognate with Old English butt (“tree stump”); see butt. The semantic development from "mound" to "target" is likely from martial training practice. The final /t/ is from the old pausal and liaison pronunciation; its (partial) restoration as the basic form may have been reinforced by related butte.

• IPA^(key): /by/
  • Homophones: bu, bue, bues, bus, bût, buts
• (outside Canada now more often) IPA^(key): /byt/
  • Homophones: bute, butent, butes, bûtes, buts, butte, buttent, buttes

  • Audio:

    (file)

but m (plural buts)

1. aim
2. goal (result one is attempting to achieve)
3. (sports) goal (in the place, act, or point sense)

• fin
• objectif
• dessein
• point

From boire.

• IPA^(key): /by/
• Homophones: bu, bue, bues, bus, bût, buts

but

1. third-person singular past historic of boire

• “but”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

but

1. stinky

but (first-person possessive butku, second-person possessive butmu, third-person possessive butnya)

1. (computing) bootstrap (process by which the operating system of a computer is loaded into its memory)

• “but” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Root
b-w-t
3 terms

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): /buːt/
• Rhymes: -uːt

but m (plural bwiet, diminutive bwejjet or buta or bwejta)

1. pocket
2. (figuratively) money

From Old English būtan, from Proto-West Germanic *biūtan, *biūtini, equivalent to be- +‎ out.

• bute, buten, boute, bouten
• botte, bot, bod

• IPA^(key): /but/

but

1. but

• English: but
• Scots: but
• Yola: mot

• “but, conj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

but

1. (Northern) Alternative form of bote (“boot”)

From earlier bót, from Old Czech bot. The change from bót to but was probably influenced by obuty (“shod”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈbut/

• Audio 1:

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• Audio 2:

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• Rhymes: -ut
• Syllabification: but
• Homophone: bud

but m inan or m animal (diminutive bucik or butek, augmentative bucior or bucisko)

1. shoe (protective covering for the foot, with a bottom part composed of thick leather or plastic sole and often a thicker heel, and a softer upper part made of leather or synthetic material)
2. boot (heavy shoe that covers part of the leg)

• but in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• but in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Inherited from Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀩𑀳𑀼𑀢𑁆𑀢 (bahutta),^[1] from Sanskrit बहुत्व (bahutva, “much, many, very”).^[1][2] Cognate with Hindi बहुत (bahut).

but (oblique bute)

1. much^[1][2][3][4]
2. many^[1][2][3]

   But rroma mekhle i India thaj gele p-e aver phuva.

   Many Roma left India and went towards other lands.

but

1. very^[1][4][5]

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish بوت (but).

but n (plural buturi)

1. thigh of an animal

but (plural buts)

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

but

1. Outside of, without.

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish بوت (but).

• IPA^(key): /bût/

bȕt m (Cyrillic spelling бу̏т)

1. thigh
2. ham

• “but”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2024

• bud (dialectal)

From Ottoman Turkish بود (bud), بوت (but), from Proto-Turkic *būt. Compare Old Turkic [script needed] (būt).

• Audio:

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but (definite accusative butu, plural butlar)

1. thigh

• uyluk

• IPA^(key): /but/

but (nominative plural buts)

1. boot