# bottom

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈbɒ.təm/ · frequency rank #1,521

## Definitions
1. The lowest part of anything.
2. The lowest part of anything.
3. The lowest part of anything.
4. The lowest part of anything.
5. The lowest part of anything.
6. The lowest part of anything.
7. The lowest part of anything.
8. The lowest part of anything.
9. The remotest or innermost part of something.
10. The fundamental part; a basic aspect.
11. Low-lying land; a valley or hollow.
12. Low-lying land near a river with alluvial soil.
13. The buttocks or anus.
14. The bed of a body of water.
15. An abyss.
16. A cargo vessel, a ship.
17. Certain parts of a vessel, particularly the cargo hold or the portion of the ship that is always underwater.
18. A person who has a receptive role or has a preference for that role during intercourse.
19. A person who has a receptive role or has a preference for that role during intercourse.
20. Character, reliability, staying power, dignity, integrity or sound judgment.
21. Power of endurance.
22. A ball or skein of thread; a cocoon.
23. A trundle or spindle of thread.
24. Dregs or grounds; lees; sediment.
25. Ellipsis of bottom quark.

## Etymology
PIE word
 *bʰudʰmḗn
From Middle English botme, botom, from Old English botm, bodan (“bottom, foundation; ground, abyss”), from Proto-West Germanic *butm, from Proto-Germanic *butmaz, *budmaz (“bottom; ground”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn (“bottom”).
Cognates
Cognate with Yola bothom, bottom (“bottom”), Saterland Frisian Boudem (“floor; ground”), West Frisian boaiem (“floor; ground”), Dutch bodem, boom, boôm (“bottom; ground, soil”), German Boden (“floor; ground; soil”), Limburgish baom (“bottom; ground, soil”), Luxembourgish Buedem (“bottom; earth, soil”), Vilamovian bödum (“bottom; ground”), Danish bund (“bottom”), Elfdalian buottn (“bottom”), Faroese botnur (“bottom”), Icelandic and Norwegian Nynorsk botn (“bottom”), Norwegian Bokmål botn, bunn (“bottom”), Swedish botten (“bottom”); also Irish and Scottish Gaelic bonn (“base, bottom; sole (of foot)”), Latin fundus (“bottom”) (whence fund, via French), Ancient Greek πυθμήν (puthmḗn, “bottom of a cup or jar; the bottom of the sea; butt of a tree”), Albanian buzë (“rocky chasm”), Armenian անդունդ (andund), անդունդք (andundkʻ, “abyss, chasm”), Northern Kurdish bin (“bottom”), Persian بن (bon, “bottom”), Sanskrit बुध्न (budhna, “bottom”).
The sense “posterior of a person” is first attested in 1794; the verb “to reach the bottom of” is first attested in 1808. bottom dollar (“the last dollar one has”) is from 1882.

## Easily confused with
- **button** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bottom-vs-button)
- **bottoms** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bottom-vs-bottoms)
- **bottomed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bottom-vs-bottomed)
- **boom** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boom-vs-bottom)
- **Botox** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/botox-vs-bottom)
- **bosom** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bosom-vs-bottom)
- **Boston** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boston-vs-bottom)
- **bottle** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bottle-vs-bottom)
- **Bolton** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bolton-vs-bottom)

## Common misspellings (7)
`bbottom`, `botom`, `bototm`, `bottmo`, `bottomm`, `btotom`, `obttom`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/bottom