Etymograph

English

button

Button comes from Old French bouter ‘to push’, from Frankish *bōtan ‘to beat’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *bautaną.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bautaną1‘to beat’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bautan2‘to beat’reconstructed
  3. Frankishc. 250–700*bōtan2‘to beat’reconstructed
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400bouter3‘to push’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400boton3
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500boton3
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1613–1614button3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *bautan
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old French bouter
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English button
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1613–1614, William Shakespeare, John Fletcher: “O queen Emilia, / Fresher than May, sweeter /…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bautanąWiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *bautan‘to beat’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bautanWiktionary, Old French bouter‘to beat’reconstructed
  3. Frankishc. 250–700*bōtanWiktionary, Old French bouter‘to beat’reconstructed
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400bouterWiktionary, English button‘to push’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400botonWiktionary, English button
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500botonWiktionary, English button
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1613–1614buttonWiktionary, English button. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1613–1614, William Shakespeare, John Fletcher: “O queen Emilia, / Fresher than May, sweeter /…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with button, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Germanic *bautaną ‘to beat, knock, bump, push’

  • boss ← bos ← boce ← *bottia ← *bottja
  • beetle ← betel ← bȳtel ← bīetel ← *bautil
  • buttress ← ars bouterez ← *bôtan

through Proto-West Germanic *bautan ‘to beat’

  • beat ← beten ← bēatan
  • bouton ← *bautōnem ← *bautō

through Old French bouter ‘to push’

  • rebut ← rebutten ← reboter

7 more relatives in the full family tree

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Another origin of button

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400boutoner
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500botonenas butonen‘to give or attach buttons to clothing’
  3. Englishtodaybutton

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Today it means

noun A knob or disc that is passed through a loop or (buttonhole), serving as a fastener.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “button”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-West Germanic *bautan, Old French bouter. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *bautaną / button