potter

Meaning

Noun

1. One who makes pots and other ceramic wares.
2. One who places flowers or other plants inside their pots.
3. One who pots meats or other eatables.
4. One who hawks crockery or earthenware.
5. The red-bellied terrapin, Pseudemys rubriventris (species of turtle).
6. The chicken turtle, Deirochelys reticularia.

Verb

1. (British) To act in a vague or unmotivated way; to fuss about with unimportant things.
2. (British) To move slowly or aimlessly. (Often potter about, potter around.)
3. (obsolete) To poke repeatedly.

Synonyms

ceramist

putter

thrower

putter around

potter around

muck about

muck around

monkey around

monkey

🐒

busy oneself

ceramicist

tinker

mess around

ramble

saunter

stroll

tamper

potter about

truck

🚚

wander

to work

kick about

kick around

made by

bustle

pudder

ceramics

dabble

dodder

drift

fiddle

modeller

mosey

occupy

perambulate

poke

pot-hunter

prowl

Translations

potier

alfarero

Töpfer

pottenbakker

oleiro

vasaio

ceramista

αγγειοπλάστης

terrissaire

ceramista

ollero

terrisser

ceramista

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈpɒtə/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: pottere

Inherited from Old English: pottere

Cognate with Dutch: poteren

In summary

From Middle English pottere, from Old English pottere (“potter”, in placenames), from Proto-West Germanic *pottārī (“pot-maker”), equivalent to pot + -er. Influenced by Anglo-Norman poter, Old French potier (“potter”). Cognate with Dutch potter (“potter”), German Low German Pötter, Pütter (“potter”). Displaced Old English synonyms lāmwyrhta (“a worker in clay, potter”, literally “loam-worker”), tiġelwyrhta (“brickmaker, potter”, literally “tile-worker”), crocwyrhta (“crocker, potter”, literally “crock-worker”).