Etymograph

English

debut

Debut comes from French début, from Middle French desbuter ‘to move, begin’, from but ‘goal’, from Old French butte ‘target’, possibly from Frankish *but ‘stump’.

  1. Frankishc. 250–700*but1‘stump, log’uncertain
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400butte1‘mound, knoll, target’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400but1‘aim, goal, target’
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600but2‘mark, goal’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600desbuter1‘to move, begin’
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600début1
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentdébut1‘start, beginning’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 2011debut1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English debut
  2. 2 Wiktionary, French but
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2011, Phil McNulty, Liverpool 3 - 0 Man City: “Liverpool's performance - despite a defensive injury crisis that…”.

Lineage

  1. Frankishc. 250–700*butWiktionary, English debut‘stump, log’uncertain
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400butteWiktionary, English debut‘mound, knoll, target’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400butWiktionary, English debut‘aim, goal, target’
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600butWiktionary, French but‘mark, goal’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600desbuterWiktionary, English debut‘to move, begin’
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600débutWiktionary, English debut
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentdébutWiktionary, English debut‘start, beginning’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 2011debutWiktionary, English debut. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2011, Phil McNulty, Liverpool 3 - 0 Man City: “Liverpool's performance - despite a defensive injury crisis that…”

The story

The Philippine sense is influenced by Spanish debut.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

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

through Old French but ‘aim, goal, end, target’

  • abut ← abutten ← abuttare

through French but ‘mark, goal’

Explore everything descended from *but →

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Today it means

noun A performer's first performance to the public, in sport, the arts or some other area.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “debut”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for French but. 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 / Frankish *but / debut