otter

C1 Topic:Nature & Landscape

US /ˈɑtɚ/ UK /ˈɒt.ə/ See IPA manual

Freq #18681

Meanings

1

noun
A small river or sea animal with webbed feet and thick brown fur that eats fish.

We watched an otter dive and play in the river.

Thesaurus

Word family

Forms otters

Derived forms otterhoundotteringotterishotterlessotterlikeotterlyottermodeotterskinottery

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

sea otter
a thick-furred marine otter of the northern Pacific coast

Noun + noun

Simplified etymology

Otter is recorded from Old English and comes from the same ancient root as water.

Etymology

From Middle English oter, otir, otur, otyre, from Old English otor, from Proto-West Germanic *otr, from Proto-Germanic *utraz, from Proto-Indo-European *udrós (“aquatic, water-animal”), from Proto-Indo-European *wed- (“water”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Otter, Dutch otter, German Otter, Swedish utter, Norwegian oter, Icelandic otur, Sanskrit उद्र (udrá), Russian вы́дра (výdra), and Ancient Greek ὕδρα (húdra, “water snake”). Doublet of Hydra and hydra. More etymology under English water.

*wed- Proto-Indo-European oter Middle English otor Old English *otr Proto-West Germanic *utraz Proto-Germanic *udrós Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Nature & Landscape Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# otter

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈɑtɚ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈɒt.ə/
**Frequency rank:** 18681

## Meanings
1. A small river or sea animal with webbed feet and thick brown fur that eats fish.

## Examples
- We watched an otter dive and play in the river.

## Derived Forms
- otterhound
- ottering
- otterish
- otterless
- otterlike
- otterly
- ottermode
- otterskin
- ottery

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *wed-
- Root: oter
- Root: otor
- Root: *otr
- Root: *utraz
- Root: *udrós

## Etymology
From Middle English oter, otir, otur, otyre, from Old English otor, from Proto-West Germanic *otr, from Proto-Germanic *utraz, from Proto-Indo-European *udrós (“aquatic, water-animal”), from Proto-Indo-European *wed- (“water”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Otter, Dutch otter, German Otter, Swedish utter, Norwegian oter, Icelandic otur, Sanskrit उद्र (udrá), Russian вы́дра (výdra), and Ancient Greek ὕδρα (húdra, “water snake”). Doublet of Hydra and hydra. More etymology under English water.

## AI Etymology
Otter is from Middle English oter, otir, otur, otyre, from Old English otor, from Proto-West Germanic *otr, from Proto-Germanic *utraz, from Proto-Indo-European *udrós (“aquatic, water-animal”), from Proto-Indo-European *wed- (“water”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Otter, Dutch otter, German Otter, Swedish utter, Norwegian oter, Icelandic otur, Sanskrit उद्र (udrá), Russian вы́дра (výdra), and Ancient Greek ὕδρα (húdra, “water snake”). Doublet of Hydra and hydra. More etymology under English water. In present-day use, it means a small river or sea animal with webbed feet and thick brown fur that eats fish. Derived formations include otterhound, ottering, otterish, otterless, otterlike.

## Topics
- Nature & Landscape
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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