# butcher

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈbʊt͡ʃə/ · frequency rank #10,340

## Definitions
1. A person who prepares and sells meat (and sometimes also slaughters the animals).
2. A brutal or indiscriminate killer.
3. A look.
4. A person who sells candy, drinks, etc. in theatres, trains, circuses, etc.
5. A king playing card.

## Etymology
From Middle English bocher, boucher, from Old French bouchier (“goat slaughterer”), from Old French bouc (“goat”), from Medieval Latin buccus (“he-goat”), from Frankish *bukk, from Proto-Germanic *bukkaz (“male goat, male deer”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuǵ- (“buck, ram”). See also English buck.

## Easily confused with
- **butter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/butcher-vs-butter)
- **butler** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/butcher-vs-butler)
- **butchery** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/butcher-vs-butchery)
- **butchered** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/butcher-vs-butchered)
- **butcher's** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/butcher-vs-butcher-s)
- **butch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/butch-vs-butcher)
- **bother** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bother-vs-butcher)
- **bitches** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bitches-vs-butcher)
- **batches** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/batches-vs-butcher)
- **bunches** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bunches-vs-butcher)
- **Beecher** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beecher-vs-butcher)
- **belcher** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belcher-vs-butcher)
- **Boucher** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boucher-vs-butcher)

## Common misspellings (11)
`bbutcher`, `btucher`, `bucther`, `butccher`, `butcehr`, `butcherr`, `butchher`, `butchre`, `buthcer`, `buttcher`, `ubtcher`

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