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buttercup

noun
/ˈbʌt.ə.kʌp/UK/ˈbʌt.ɚ.kʌp/US

Etymology

From butter + cup. Both sense 1 and 2 are from the flowers' association with butter, from their yellow colour. Compare butterflower for a similar derivation; outside of English, compare Dutch boterbloem, German Butterblume.

  1. derived from *gew-✻ — “to bend, curve, arch”
  2. inherited from *kuppaz✻
  3. inherited from *kopp✻ — “round object, bowl, vessel, knoll, summit, crown of the head”
  4. derived from *kewp-✻ — “a hollow”
  5. derived from cūpa — “tub, cask”
  6. derived from cuppa
  7. inherited from copp — “cup, vessel”
  8. inherited from cuppe — “cup”
  9. inherited from cuppe
  10. compounded as buttercup — “butter + cup”

Definitions

  1. Any of many herbs, of the genus Ranunculus, having yellow flowers

    Any of many herbs, of the genus Ranunculus, having yellow flowers; the crowfoot.

  2. Any flower of the genus Narcissus

    Any flower of the genus Narcissus; a daffodil.

  3. Ellipsis of buttercup squash.

  4. ›+ 1 more definition

    1. Affectionate or ironic term of address.

      • When she touched my hand, what a chill I got Her lips are like a volcano that's hot I'm proud to say that she's my buttercup. I'm in love - I'm all shook up.
      • Listen, buttercup, you're damned good in bed. They don't come any better, but I'm really not interested in playing second fiddle to your camera or your young lovers.

The neighborhood

Derived

Bermuda buttercup, bulbous buttercup, buttercup anemone, buttercuplike, buttercupped, buttercup squash, buttercup tree, California buttercup, creeping buttercup, glacier buttercup, goldilocks buttercup, Greenland buttercup, wood buttercup

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for buttercup. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA