Otter

How to spell otter

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce otter

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does otter mean?

1. nounA semi-aquatic mammal with dense fur, webbed feet, and a long tail, known for swimming and hunting fish in rivers and coasts.

Otter in a sentence

• A playful otter slid down the muddy bank into the river.

• The wildlife guide pointed out an otter floating on its back while eating a crab.

Where does otter come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Otter comes straight from Old English otor, also spelled oter, the native Germanic name for the sleek, fish-eating river mammal. It traces back to a Proto-Germanic form that also gave Dutch otter and German Otter, and beyond that to an ancient Indo-European root that literally meant 'water animal'. That same watery root is the distant relative of the Greek hudor and the English word 'water', so the otter is, in a real sense, named as the creature of the water. The spelling has stayed remarkably stable for over a thousand years, keeping its simple double-t before the -er ending. Because it is such an old and short native word, the only thing to remember is that single o and the doubled t.

How the word is built

• otter (single Old English root; no prefix or suffix)