but – English noun declension

English noun forms of but

Noun: but
Singularbut
Pluralbuts

Sample Sentences

  • It has to be done—no ifs, ands, or buts.
  • But—and this is a big but—you have to come home by sundown.
  • The children are taught to be afraid of winter, of war, of death, of hard times, of disease, of examtinations. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that children so seldom find the conversation of their elders uplifting. It is full of don’ts, buts and nots. [1922 March 4, “Fed on Fear Too Much”, in The Pathfinder, volume 29, number 1470, Washington, D.C.: Pathfinder Publishing Company, page 33:]
  • "I support you/understand where you're coming from, but..." ¶ No. No "buts" when it comes to other people's survival. [2016 December 28, Concepcion de Leon, “5 Things Well-Meaning People Say to Me That Are Actually Really Offensive”, in Glamour, Greenwich, C.T.; […]: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 08 Feb 2023:]
  • But - and this is a pretty important but - it's just as bad to eat the wrong thing before a workout as it is to eat nothing at all. [2018 September 17, Catriona Harvey-Jenner, “8 foods you should never eat before a workout”, in Cosmopolitan, New York, N.Y.: Hearst Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 28 Jan 2023:]

Etymology

From Middle English but, buten, boute, bouten, from Old English būtan (“without, outside of, except, only”), from Proto-West Germanic *biūtan, *biūtini, equivalent to be- + out. Cognate with Scots but, bot (“outside, without, but”), Saterland Frisian buute (“without”), West Frisian bûten (“outside of, apart from, other than, except, but”), Dutch buiten (“outside”), Dutch Low Saxon buten (“outside”), German Low German buuten, buute (“outside”), obsolete German baußen (“outside”), Luxembourgish baussen. Compare bin, about. See: Middle English Nouns 'but', Old English Nouns 'būtan', Dutch Nouns 'buiten'.

Verbs referencing "but"

Dutch Nouns buiten.