Battered

How to spell battered

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce battered

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does battered mean?

1. adjectiveDamaged or worn out from repeated knocks, age, or hard use.
2. adjectiveCoated in a flour-and-liquid mixture and usually fried.
3. verbPast tense of batter: struck something forcefully and repeatedly.

Battered in a sentence

• adjective

  He carried his books in a battered leather satchel.

• adjective

  The chip shop sells battered cod and mushy peas.

• verb

  Heavy waves battered the harbour wall during the storm.

• adjective

  The old van looked battered after decades on rough roads.

• adjective

  They ordered battered onion rings as a starter.

• verb

  The gale battered the coastline for two full days.

Where does battered come from?

Language of origin: French

The word traces back to the Latin battuere, meaning 'to beat' or 'to strike', which passed into Old French as batre and then into Middle English as 'batter' around the 1300s. The original sense was simply to strike something again and again, the same idea preserved in 'battering ram' and in the legal phrase 'assault and battery'. The adjective 'battered' grew naturally from the past participle, describing anything worn or damaged by repeated knocks. The unrelated-looking culinary 'batter', the flour-and-egg mixture, comes from the same beating root, because the mixture is beaten together. The single t in 'batter' often tempts writers, but the word keeps its doubled t throughout, so 'battered' always carries two of them.

How the word is built

• batter (to strike repeatedly, from Old French batre 'to beat')
• -ed (past participle/adjective suffix)