Buttermilk Meaning
/ˈbʌtɚˌmɪlk/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe liquid left over after producing butter from full cream milk by the churning process, also called traditional buttermilk.
nounCultured buttermilk, a fermented dairy product produced from cow's milk, with a characteristically sour taste.
Sentence Examples
Do you have some buttermilk?
What's the difference between milk and buttermilk?
Buttermilk is no longer popular in the United States.
CEFR Practice Quiz
For the pancake recipe, I need a cup of fresh ____ instead of regular milk.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She used ____ to make the pancakes extra light and very fluffy today.
Word Origin & History
Inherited from Middle English butter-melke, equivalent to butter + milk. Cognate with Dutch botermelk (“buttermilk”), German Buttermilch (“buttermilk”), Low German Bottermelk (“buttermilk”), Luxembourgish Bottermëllech (“buttermilk”), Plautdietsch Bottamalkj, Bottamaltj, Bottermalkj, Bottermaltj (“buttermilk”), and Yiddish פּוטערמילך (putermilkh), פּוטער־מילעך (puter-milekh, “buttermilk”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"An anti-aphrodisiac, suggested in Hindu erotological literature as a way for women to negate amatory challenges, is to bathe in the buttermilk of a she-buffalo."
— 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 52:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
For the pancake recipe, I need a cup of fresh ____ instead of regular milk.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She used ____ to make the pancakes extra light and very fluffy today.