Standard Lemma guide

patzer

noun · 2 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.

  • păʹtsər
  • päʹtsər
  • /ˈpætsər/
  • /ˈpɑtsər/
  • CMU ARPABET: P EY1 T Z ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Synonym of woodpusher: a poor chess player.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: derogatory, informal

Topics: board-games, chess, games

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: woodpusher

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a poor chess player

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: chess player

History

Etymology

Uncertain, but probably from German Patzer (“bungler”), from patzen.