butor

\by.tɔʁ\

/\by.tɔʁ\/ noun

The verdict

“butor” is uncommon French (frequency #53,830 among 4,251 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#53,830
frequency rank, French
4,251
“B” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Oiseau proche du héron qui vit dans les marécages, de la famille des ardéidés, en particulier le butor étoilé.

Corpus desk

Index FR-butor · butor · French

butor · rank #53,830 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #53,830
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,251
  • PHOTO-FINISH busta

Nearest frequency peer: busta (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rangs de longue queue près de « butor »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « butor » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for butor
PropertyValue
Headwordbutor
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\by.tɔʁ\
Letters5
Frequency rank#53,830
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « butor » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).butortombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « busta » (#53,829), « Buren » (#53,828), « built » (#53,827). Parmi 4,251 lemmes en « B », « butor » est au #53,830. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

butor is uncommon French at frequency #53,830 among 4,251 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \by.tɔʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for butor in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is butor, spelled B-U-T-O-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Oiseau proche du héron qui vit dans les marécages, de la famille des ardéidés, en particulier le butor étoilé.
  2. 2
    Individu mal élevé, grossier, brutal et stupide.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how butor appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Un chapelet de petits étangs brillait entre le promeneur et la forêt, et des butors s'y disputaient aigrement.
  2. Mais ni le lendemain, ni le surlendemain, je ne revis le butor et je décidai de l’abandonner à la solitude des Relongues.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "butor"?
"butor" is spelled B-U-T-O-R. The IPA pronunciation is \by.tɔʁ\.
What does "butor" mean?
As a noun, "butor" means: Oiseau proche du héron qui vit dans les marécages, de la famille des ardéidés, en particulier le butor étoilé.
How do you pronounce "butor"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "butor" is \by.tɔʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "butor" come from?
"butor" is a French 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "butor", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list