BUTTE
What does "BUTTE" mean?
An isolated hill with steep sides and a flat top, smaller than a mesa.
Meanings
- A steep-sided, flat-topped hill standing alone on a plain, common in the American West. The lone butte threw a long shadow across the desert at sunset.
Did you know?
- Geologists separate a butte from a mesa by proportion, not size: a butte is taller than it is wide, while a mesa is wider than it is tall - the same hill becomes a butte as erosion narrows it.
Word origin
From French 'butte' (a knoll or rising ground), adopted by American frontier settlers and applied to the isolated flat-topped hills of the western plains.
Remember it
BUTTE rhymes with 'cute' (/bjuːt/), not 'butt' - and it stands tall and flat-topped like a tiny mesa.
A little poem
Flat crown on the plain-
the only hill left standing
where a mountain stood.
haiku
Wordplay
- Two hikers argued over a flat-topped hill all day. By dusk it had eroded just enough to settle the debate.
What it teaches
What looks permanent on the horizon is only the slowest part of something still wearing away.
Quick facts
What does BUTTE mean?
An isolated hill with steep sides and a flat top, smaller than a mesa.
Is BUTTE a valid word?
Yes — BUTTE is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is BUTTE?
BUTTE has 5 letters and 1 syllable.
Where does BUTTE come from?
From French 'butte' (a knoll or rising ground), adopted by American frontier settlers and applied to the isolated flat-topped hills of the western plains.
What can BUTTE teach us?
What looks permanent on the horizon is only the slowest part of something still wearing away.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.