Advertisement
🇯🇵Japanese Source WordCode: JA

ぷくぷく

Pronunciation / Transliteration: pukupuku

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Butterball/ˈbʌt.ɚ.bɑːl/
nounCEFR C1 (Advanced)Top #15200 frequency
Full Thesaurus
🇯🇵 Example Sentence in Japanese:

"そのぷくぷくした赤ちゃんの頬をつまみたくなった。"

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As noun
  1. 1

    A plump, round, and chubby person or animal, often used affectionately.

    "The bouncing baby was such a little butterball with chubby cheeks and dimpled knees."
  2. 2

    A small, plump duck, specifically the bufflehead.

    "A flock of butterballs bobbed energetically on the surface of the cold autumn lake."
Advertisement

Thesaurus & Semantic Spectrum

Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

Derived from the combination of the noun 'butter' (from Old English butere, ultimately from Late Latin buttura) and 'ball' (from Old Norse bǫllr), originally used in the 19th century to describe something plump, round, and smooth like a ball of butter. Over time, it became widely recognized as a colloquial descriptor for chubby children or animals, as well as becoming a famous American brand name for turkeys.

Quick Vocabulary Retention Check

Which of the following is the closest synonym for "Butterball"?

Advertisement
Thesaurus & Synonyms Graph

Explore Nuanced Synonyms for "Butterball"

Discover exact matches, context-specific alternatives, and antonyms with intensity ratings in the VocabDictionary Thesaurus.

View "Butterball" Synonym Map
Advertisement