potter
/ˈpɑtɚ/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.11 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
One who hawks crockery or earthenware.
noun
The red-bellied terrapin, Pseudemys rubriventris (species of turtle).
noun
The chicken turtle, Deirochelys reticularia.
Example Sentences
- "shoemakers, weavers, potters, bronzeworkers who produced and purveyed the articles necessary for daily life."
- "the convivial society of gipsies, tinkers, potters, strolling players, &c."
- "He’s so dreamy and absent-minded. He potters about the garden all the time."
- ""We love our little diesel trains. They potter up and down. They break down. The C6 overhaul is only a temporary answer. By the time they are replaced, they will be 45 years old."
- "We are Harry Potter and William Wallace, the Na’vi and Han Solo. We’re escaping from Shawshank and blowing up the Death Star. We are fighting with the Harkonnens and challenging Thanos. Ukraine is hosting one of the great epics of this century."
- "In the interest of full disclosure, let it be said: This reviewer is not a Potterphile, has never cracked a Potter book or darkened the door of a theater playing one of the Potter movies."
Etymology
From Middle English pottere, from Old English pottere (“potter”, in placenames), from Proto-West Germanic *pottārī (“pot-maker”), equivalent to pot + -er. Influenced by Anglo-Norman poter, Old French potier (“potter”). Cognate with Dutch potter (“potter”), German Low German Pötter, Pütter (“potter”). Displaced Old English synonyms lāmwyrhta (“a worker in clay, potter”, literally “loam-worker”), tiġelwyrhta (“brickmaker, potter”, literally “tile-worker”), crocwyrhta (“crocker, potter”, literally “crock-worker”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈpɑtɚ/
- British English: /ˈpɒtə/
Usage
- British usage
- Obsolete
- Countable
- Uncountable
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
Frequently Paired Words
Synonyms
northern red-bellied cooter
ceramicist
thrower
ceramist
putter
potter around
putter around
mess around
tinker
monkey
monkey around
muck about