Standard Lemma guide

buttermilk

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /ˈbʌtɚˌmɪlk/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈbʌtəˌmɪlk/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: B AH1 T ER0 M IH2 L K Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The liquid left over after producing butter from full cream milk by the churning process, also called traditional buttermilk.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Cultured buttermilk, a fermented dairy product produced from cow's milk, with a characteristically sour taste.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A light yellow color, like that of buttermilk.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

residue from making butter from sour raw milk; or pasteurized milk curdled by adding a culture

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: milk

History

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English butter-melke, equivalent to butter + milk. Cognate with Dutch botermelk (“buttermilk”), German Buttermilch (“buttermilk”), Low German Bottermelk (“buttermilk”), Luxembourgish Bottermëllech (“buttermilk”), Plautdietsch Bottamalkj, Bottamaltj, Bottermalkj, Bottermaltj (“buttermilk”), and Yiddish פּוטערמילך (putermilkh), פּוטער־מילעך (puter-milekh, “buttermilk”).

Across languages

Translations

120 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: dhallë — traditional buttermilk
  • Arabic: مَخِيض (maḵīḍ) — traditional buttermilk
  • Arabic: مَمْخُوض (mamḵūḍ) — traditional buttermilk
  • Armenian: թան (tʻan) — traditional buttermilk
  • Aromanian: dhalã — traditional buttermilk
  • Aromanian: dalã — traditional buttermilk
  • Belarusian: па́хта (páxta) — traditional buttermilk
  • Belarusian: маслёнка (masljónka) — traditional buttermilk
  • Bulgarian: мъ́теница (mǎ́tenica) — traditional buttermilk
  • Catalan: sèrum de mantega — traditional buttermilk
  • Chinese Mandarin: 酪乳 (làorǔ) — traditional buttermilk
  • Chinese Mandarin: 酪漿 /酪浆 (làojiāng) — traditional buttermilk
  • Czech: podmáslí — traditional buttermilk
  • Danish: kærnemælk — traditional buttermilk
  • Dutch: karnemelk — traditional buttermilk
  • Dutch: botermelk — traditional buttermilk
  • Esperanto: buterlakto — traditional buttermilk
  • Estonian: pett — traditional buttermilk
  • Estonian: petipiim — traditional buttermilk
  • Estonian: võipiim — traditional buttermilk
  • Faroese: blak — traditional buttermilk
  • Finnish: kirnupiimä — traditional buttermilk
  • French: babeurre — traditional buttermilk
  • West-Frisian: sûpe — traditional buttermilk
  • Galician: soro de manteiga — traditional buttermilk
  • Georgian: დო (do) — traditional buttermilk
  • German: Buttermilch — traditional buttermilk
  • Greek: βουτυρόγαλα (voutyrógala) — traditional buttermilk
  • Gujarati: છાશ (chāś) — traditional buttermilk
  • Hawaiian: wai koʻana waiū paka — traditional buttermilk
  • Hebrew: חובצה \ חֻבְצָה (khuvtsá) — traditional buttermilk
  • Hindi: छाछ (chāch) — traditional buttermilk
  • Hindi: मट्ठा (maṭṭhā) — traditional buttermilk
  • Hungarian: író — traditional buttermilk
  • Icelandic: áfir — traditional buttermilk
  • Ingrian: kirnumaito — traditional buttermilk
  • Ingrian: pettömaito — traditional buttermilk
  • Ingrian: pettopiimä — traditional buttermilk
  • Ingrian: pettypiimä — traditional buttermilk
  • Irish: bláthach — traditional buttermilk
  • Old Irish: bláthach — traditional buttermilk
  • Italian: latticello — traditional buttermilk
  • Japanese: バターミルク (batāmiruku) — traditional buttermilk
  • Kannada: ಮಜ್ಜಿಗೆ (majjige) — traditional buttermilk
  • Kazakh: іркіт (ırkıt) — traditional buttermilk
  • Korean: 버터밀크 (beoteomilkeu) — traditional buttermilk
  • Ladin: nida — traditional buttermilk
  • Lao: ກາກນ້ໍານົມ (kāk nam nom) — traditional buttermilk
  • Latvian: paniņas — traditional buttermilk
  • Low German: Karnmelk — traditional buttermilk
  • Low German: Karmelk — traditional buttermilk
  • Low German: Kernmelk — traditional buttermilk
  • Low German: Bottermelk — traditional buttermilk
  • Luxembourgish: Bottermëllech — traditional buttermilk
  • Macedonian: матеница (matenica) — traditional buttermilk
  • Manx: bainney geayr — traditional buttermilk
  • Marathi: ताक (tāk) — traditional buttermilk
  • Norman: lait d'beurre — traditional buttermilk
  • Norwegian Bokmål: kjernemelk — traditional buttermilk
  • Norwegian Bokmål: kjernemjølk — traditional buttermilk
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: kjernemjølk — traditional buttermilk
  • Pannonian Rusyn: цмар (cmar) — traditional buttermilk
  • Persian: دوغ (duġ) — traditional buttermilk
  • Persian: پینو (pinu) — traditional buttermilk
  • Plautdietsch: Bottamalkj — traditional buttermilk
  • Plautdietsch: Bottamaltj — traditional buttermilk
  • Plautdietsch: Bottermalkj — traditional buttermilk
  • Plautdietsch: Bottermaltj — traditional buttermilk
  • Polish: maślanka — traditional buttermilk
  • Portuguese: leitelho — traditional buttermilk
  • Portuguese: soro de manteiga — traditional buttermilk
  • Punjabi: ਛਾਹ (chāh) — traditional buttermilk
  • Punjabi: ਲੱਸੀ (lassī) — traditional buttermilk
  • Romanian: zară — traditional buttermilk
  • Russian: па́хта (páxta) — traditional buttermilk
  • Sanskrit: तक्रम् (takram) — traditional buttermilk
  • Santali: ᱜᱷᱳᱨ (ghor) — traditional buttermilk
  • Scottish Gaelic: blàthach — traditional buttermilk
  • Serbo-Croatian: mlaćènica — traditional buttermilk
  • Serbo-Croatian: stȅpka — traditional buttermilk
  • Slovak: cmar — traditional buttermilk
  • Slovene: pinjenec — traditional buttermilk
  • Spanish: suero de mantequilla — traditional buttermilk
  • Swedish: kärnmjölk — traditional buttermilk
  • Tamil: மோர் (mōr) — traditional buttermilk
  • Telugu: చల్ల (calla) — traditional buttermilk
  • Telugu: మజ్జిగ (majjiga) — traditional buttermilk
  • Tibetan: དར་བ (dar ba) — traditional buttermilk
  • Turkish: yayık ayranı — traditional buttermilk
  • Ukrainian: масля́нка (masljánka) — traditional buttermilk
  • Ukrainian: сколо́тини (skolótyny) — traditional buttermilk
  • Urdu: چھاچھ (chāch) — traditional buttermilk
  • Uzbek: ayron — traditional buttermilk
  • Uzbek: ardob — traditional buttermilk
  • Vietnamese: kho thực phẩm — traditional buttermilk
  • Volapük: böridamilig — traditional buttermilk
  • Volapük: milegamilig — traditional buttermilk
  • Volapük: milemilig — traditional buttermilk
  • Welsh: llaeth enwyn — traditional buttermilk
  • Welsh: enwyn — traditional buttermilk
  • Yiddish: פּוטערמילך (putermilkh) — traditional buttermilk
  • Yiddish: פּוטער־מילעך (puter-milekh) — traditional buttermilk
  • Yiddish: מאַסלינקע (maslinke) — traditional buttermilk
  • Yiddish: מאַסליאַנקע (maslyanke) — traditional buttermilk
  • Yiddish: מאַשלינקע (mashlinke) — traditional buttermilk
  • Arabic: دُوغ (dūḡ) — cultured buttermilk
  • Chinese Mandarin: 發酵酪乳 /发酵酪乳 (fājiào làorǔ) — cultured buttermilk
  • Dutch: botermelk — cultured buttermilk
  • Finnish: piimä — cultured buttermilk
  • West-Frisian: sûpe — cultured buttermilk
  • Georgian: დო (do) — cultured buttermilk
  • Greek: ξινόγαλα (xinógala) — cultured buttermilk
  • Hindi: छाछ (chāch) — cultured buttermilk
  • Kannada: ಮಜ್ಜಿಗೆ (majjige) — cultured buttermilk
  • Macedonian: матеница (matenica) — cultured buttermilk
  • Polish: maślanka — cultured buttermilk
  • Portuguese: leitelho cultivado — cultured buttermilk
  • Russian: батерми́лк (batermílk) — cultured buttermilk
  • Spanish: suero de mantequilla — cultured buttermilk
  • Tamil: மோர் (mōr) — cultured buttermilk
Real reading context

buttermilk in complete knowledge articles