Batter

How to spell batter

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce batter

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does batter mean?

1. nounA semi-liquid mixture of flour, eggs and liquid, beaten together and used in cooking.
2. verbTo strike something repeatedly with heavy blows.
3. nounThe player whose turn it is to hit the ball with a bat, especially in baseball or cricket.

Batter in a sentence

• noun

  She whisked the pancake batter until it was completely smooth.

• verb

  The storm continued to batter the coastline through the night.

• noun

  The batter swung hard and sent the ball over the fence.

• noun

  The fish was coated in a light batter and fried until golden.

• verb

  Firefighters had to batter the locked door to reach the trapped family.

• noun

  A left-handed batter stepped up to face the next delivery.

Where does batter come from?

Language of origin: French

The verb sense comes from the Old French batre, later battre, meaning 'to beat or strike', which descended from the Latin battuere, 'to beat or pound'. English adopted it in the 1300s, adding the frequentative ending -er to suggest repeated, sustained blows rather than a single hit, so to batter something is to strike it again and again. The cooking sense grew from the very same root: a batter is literally a mixture that has been beaten together, the flour and eggs and liquid whisked into a smooth blend. The sporting noun, the person who bats, is a separate formation, built simply on the English word 'bat' plus the agent ending -er. The doubled t, which is the main spelling point, reflects the short stressed vowel in the first syllable and echoes the Latin battuere it ultimately came from.

How the word is built

• batt- (from Old French batre: to beat)
• -er (frequentative/agent suffix)