button one's lip

verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"button-one-s-lip" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“button one's lip” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
16
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To remain silent, especially in order to keep a secret or to avoid saying something inappropriate.

Key facts for button one's lip
PropertyValue
Headwordbutton one's lip
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters16
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “button one's lip” sits in English frequency

button one's lip falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

button one's lip is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To remain silent, especially in order to keep a secret or to avoid saying something inappropriate.".

button one's lip has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is button one's lip, spelled B-U-T-T-O-N- -O-N-E-'-S- -L-I-P.

Definition

  1. 1
    To remain silent, especially in order to keep a secret or to avoid saying something inappropriate.

Synonyms

bite one's lipzip one's lip

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "button one's lip"?
"button one's lip" is spelled B-U-T-T-O-N- -O-N-E-'-S- -L-I-P.
What does "button one's lip" mean?
As a verb, "button one's lip" means: To remain silent, especially in order to keep a secret or to avoid saying something inappropriate.
What language does "button one's lip" come from?
"button one's lip" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “button one's lip”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is B-U-T-T-O-N- -O-N-E-'-S- -L-I-P - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list