"butterface" meaning in English

See butterface in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈbʌ.təˌfeɪs/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈbʌ.təɹˌfeɪs/ [General-American] Audio: en-US-Butterface.wav , en-au-butterface.ogg Forms: butterfaces [plural], butter face [alternative]
Rhymes: -ʌtə(ɹ)feɪs Etymology: Ellipsis of various forms of everything looks good but her face, great body but her face, among other phrases, under the influence of butter (perhaps also with connotation of “plainness”, grease, etc.) and buttface. Compare summerteeth. Etymology templates: {{ellipsis|en}} Ellipsis Head templates: {{en-noun}} butterface (plural butterfaces)
  1. (slang, derogatory) A person who has an attractive body but an unattractive face. Tags: derogatory, slang Categories (topical): Body, Face, People, Sexism Synonyms: prawn, ugly person, ugly man, ugly woman Translations (attractive person with unattractive face): 背影殺手 /背影杀手 (bèiyǐngshāshǒu) (Chinese Mandarin), plork (Dutch), バックシャン (bakkushan) (Japanese), krzywy ryj (Polish), Raimunda [feminine] (Portuguese), mulher camarão [masculine] (Portuguese), gamba [feminine] (Spanish), hipon (Tagalog)
    Sense id: en-butterface-en-noun-lhmERQty Disambiguation of Body: 71 29 Disambiguation of Face: 84 16 Disambiguation of People: 100 0 Disambiguation of Sexism: 99 1 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Dutch translations, Terms with Japanese translations, Terms with Mandarin translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Portuguese translations, Terms with Spanish translations, Terms with Tagalog translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 91 9 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 94 6 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 94 6 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 96 4 Disambiguation of Terms with Dutch translations: 95 5 Disambiguation of Terms with Japanese translations: 96 4 Disambiguation of Terms with Mandarin translations: 86 14 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 92 8 Disambiguation of Terms with Portuguese translations: 96 4 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 98 2 Disambiguation of Terms with Tagalog translations: 94 6 Disambiguation of 'attractive person with unattractive face': 65 35
  2. (slang, derogatory) An unattractive face. Tags: derogatory, slang
    Sense id: en-butterface-en-noun-N-6DJr9i
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: butterfaced, butters Related terms: you don't look at the mantelpiece when you're poking the fire

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "butterfaced"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "butters"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en"
      },
      "expansion": "Ellipsis",
      "name": "ellipsis"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Ellipsis of various forms of everything looks good but her face, great body but her face, among other phrases, under the influence of butter (perhaps also with connotation of “plainness”, grease, etc.) and buttface. Compare summerteeth.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "butterfaces",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "butter face",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "butterface (plural butterfaces)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "but‧ter‧face"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "you don't look at the mantelpiece when you're poking the fire"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "butterbody"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "91 9",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "94 6",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "94 6",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "96 4",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "95 5",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Dutch translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "96 4",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Japanese translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "86 14",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Mandarin translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "92 8",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "96 4",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Portuguese translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "98 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "94 6",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Tagalog translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "71 29",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Body",
          "orig": "en:Body",
          "parents": [
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "84 16",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Face",
          "orig": "en:Face",
          "parents": [
            "Head and neck",
            "Body parts",
            "Body",
            "Anatomy",
            "All topics",
            "Biology",
            "Medicine",
            "Fundamental",
            "Sciences",
            "Healthcare",
            "Health"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "100 0",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "People",
          "orig": "en:People",
          "parents": [
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "99 1",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Sexism",
          "orig": "en:Sexism",
          "parents": [
            "Forms of discrimination",
            "Gender",
            "Discrimination",
            "Biology",
            "Psychology",
            "Sociology",
            "Society",
            "Sciences",
            "Social sciences",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I can’t even look at her, she’s such a butterface.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, Laura Lippman, I'd Know You Anywhere, New York: HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 76:",
          "text": "Her face wasn't quite as pretty as he had hoped — Earl, the other mechanic back at his father's place called this kind of girl a Butterface...",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person who has an attractive body but an unattractive face."
      ],
      "id": "en-butterface-en-noun-lhmERQty",
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ],
        [
          "attractive",
          "attractive"
        ],
        [
          "body",
          "body"
        ],
        [
          "unattractive",
          "unattractive"
        ],
        [
          "face",
          "face"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, derogatory) A person who has an attractive body but an unattractive face."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "prawn"
        },
        {
          "word": "ugly person"
        },
        {
          "word": "ugly man"
        },
        {
          "word": "ugly woman"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "derogatory",
        "slang"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "65 35",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "bèiyǐngshāshǒu",
          "sense": "attractive person with unattractive face",
          "word": "背影殺手 /背影杀手"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "65 35",
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "attractive person with unattractive face",
          "word": "plork"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "65 35",
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "bakkushan",
          "sense": "attractive person with unattractive face",
          "word": "バックシャン"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "65 35",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "attractive person with unattractive face",
          "word": "krzywy ryj"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "65 35",
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "attractive person with unattractive face",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Raimunda"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "65 35",
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "attractive person with unattractive face",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "mulher camarão"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "65 35",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "attractive person with unattractive face",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "gamba"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "65 35",
          "code": "tl",
          "lang": "Tagalog",
          "sense": "attractive person with unattractive face",
          "word": "hipon"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I can’t even look at her, she’s got such a butterface.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2004, Amy Sohn, “The need to know and the fear of knowing”, in My Old Man, New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 106:",
          "text": "Her friend had a hot figure and a butterface — great body, but her face — and they were talking about Greyhound's most recent dating fiasco.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An unattractive face."
      ],
      "id": "en-butterface-en-noun-N-6DJr9i",
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ],
        [
          "unattractive",
          "unattractive"
        ],
        [
          "face",
          "face"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, derogatory) An unattractive face."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "derogatory",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈbʌ.təˌfeɪs/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈbʌ.təɹˌfeɪs/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-US-Butterface.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/21/En-US-Butterface.wav/En-US-Butterface.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/21/En-US-Butterface.wav/En-US-Butterface.wav.ogg"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-butterface.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/9e/En-au-butterface.ogg/En-au-butterface.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/En-au-butterface.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ʌtə(ɹ)feɪs"
    }
  ],
  "word": "butterface"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English ellipses",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/ʌtə(ɹ)feɪs",
    "Rhymes:English/ʌtə(ɹ)feɪs/3 syllables",
    "Terms with Dutch translations",
    "Terms with Japanese translations",
    "Terms with Mandarin translations",
    "Terms with Polish translations",
    "Terms with Portuguese translations",
    "Terms with Spanish translations",
    "Terms with Tagalog translations",
    "en:Body",
    "en:Face",
    "en:People",
    "en:Sexism"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "butterfaced"
    },
    {
      "word": "butters"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en"
      },
      "expansion": "Ellipsis",
      "name": "ellipsis"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Ellipsis of various forms of everything looks good but her face, great body but her face, among other phrases, under the influence of butter (perhaps also with connotation of “plainness”, grease, etc.) and buttface. Compare summerteeth.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "butterfaces",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "butter face",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "butterface (plural butterfaces)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "but‧ter‧face"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "you don't look at the mantelpiece when you're poking the fire"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "butterbody"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English derogatory terms",
        "English slang",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I can’t even look at her, she’s such a butterface.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, Laura Lippman, I'd Know You Anywhere, New York: HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 76:",
          "text": "Her face wasn't quite as pretty as he had hoped — Earl, the other mechanic back at his father's place called this kind of girl a Butterface...",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person who has an attractive body but an unattractive face."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ],
        [
          "attractive",
          "attractive"
        ],
        [
          "body",
          "body"
        ],
        [
          "unattractive",
          "unattractive"
        ],
        [
          "face",
          "face"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, derogatory) A person who has an attractive body but an unattractive face."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "prawn"
        },
        {
          "word": "ugly person"
        },
        {
          "word": "ugly man"
        },
        {
          "word": "ugly woman"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "derogatory",
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English derogatory terms",
        "English slang",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I can’t even look at her, she’s got such a butterface.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2004, Amy Sohn, “The need to know and the fear of knowing”, in My Old Man, New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 106:",
          "text": "Her friend had a hot figure and a butterface — great body, but her face — and they were talking about Greyhound's most recent dating fiasco.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An unattractive face."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ],
        [
          "unattractive",
          "unattractive"
        ],
        [
          "face",
          "face"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, derogatory) An unattractive face."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "derogatory",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈbʌ.təˌfeɪs/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈbʌ.təɹˌfeɪs/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-US-Butterface.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/21/En-US-Butterface.wav/En-US-Butterface.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/21/En-US-Butterface.wav/En-US-Butterface.wav.ogg"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-butterface.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/9e/En-au-butterface.ogg/En-au-butterface.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/En-au-butterface.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ʌtə(ɹ)feɪs"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "bèiyǐngshāshǒu",
      "sense": "attractive person with unattractive face",
      "word": "背影殺手 /背影杀手"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "attractive person with unattractive face",
      "word": "plork"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "bakkushan",
      "sense": "attractive person with unattractive face",
      "word": "バックシャン"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "attractive person with unattractive face",
      "word": "krzywy ryj"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "attractive person with unattractive face",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Raimunda"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "attractive person with unattractive face",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "mulher camarão"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "attractive person with unattractive face",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "gamba"
    },
    {
      "code": "tl",
      "lang": "Tagalog",
      "sense": "attractive person with unattractive face",
      "word": "hipon"
    }
  ],
  "word": "butterface"
}

Download raw JSONL data for butterface meaning in English (4.8kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-03-26 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-03-21 using wiktextract (fef8596 and 633533e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.