Butt vs. Rump — What's the Difference?
Edited by Tayyaba Rehman — By Urooj Arif — Updated on May 8, 2024
"Butt" commonly refers to the human posterior, informal and somewhat colloquial, whereas "rump" is used more broadly for the hindquarters of animals and is more formal.
Difference Between Butt and Rump
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Key Differences
"Butt" is often used in casual conversation to refer to the human backside, implying both the buttocks and the general posterior area, while "rump" refers to the hind part of various animals, including the buttocks in humans, generally in a more formal or scientific context.
In everyday usage, "butt" is considered less formal and can sometimes be viewed as impolite or humorous, whereas "rump" carries a more serious or technical tone, often used by professionals like biologists or butchers.
The term "butt" can also appear in various idiomatic expressions, such as "pain in the butt," which highlights its colloquial usage, while "rump" rarely appears in slang or idioms.
When referring to meat cuts, "rump" specifically denotes a prime cut from the hindquarters of an animal, suitable for various cooking methods, whereas "butt" does not have a direct implication in culinary contexts unless paired with specific qualifiers like "pork butt."
While "butt" is almost exclusively used to refer to humans in non-formal contexts, "rump" is versatile, describing the corresponding part on many mammals, from livestock to wild animals.
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Comparison Chart
Usage Context
Informal, colloquial.
Formal, scientific.
Connotation
Often humorous, can be impolite.
Serious, technical.
Idiomatic Use
Common in idioms and expressions.
Rarely used in idioms.
Reference
Primarily humans.
Humans and animals.
Culinary Use
Not specific without qualifiers.
Specific meat cut from animal hindquarters.
Compare with Definitions
Butt
Used colloquially for emphasis or humor.
That joke was a real pain in the butt.
Rump
In humans, refers to the buttocks, formally.
She injured her rump during the fall.
Butt
Not typically used in formal writing.
Avoid using 'butt' in formal essays.
Rump
Appears in precise or formal usage.
The veterinarian focused on the injury to the animal's rump.
Butt
The posterior of a human; informally referred to as the backside.
He slipped on the ice and landed on his butt.
Rump
The hindquarters of an animal.
The horse flicked flies away from its rump.
Butt
Common in informal contexts.
Watch where you're sitting, you might hit your butt.
Rump
Used in scientific and technical descriptions.
The diagram shows a labeled view of a cow's rump.
Butt
Slang for the end or remainder of something.
He held the cigarette by the butt.
Rump
A specific meat cut from the back of an animal.
We roasted a rump roast for dinner.
Butt
(of a person or animal) hit (someone or something) with the head or horns
She butted him in the chest
Rump
The hind part of the body of a mammal or the lower back of a bird
He slapped the horse on the rump
The harrier is distinguished by its prominent white rump
A medium-rare slice of rump
Butt
Adjoin or meet end to end
The shop butted up against the row of houses
Rump
A small or unimportant remnant of something originally larger
The rump Yugoslavia
Once the profitable enterprises have been sold the unprofitable rump will be left
Butt
A push or blow, especially one given with the head.
Rump
The fleshy hindquarters of an animal.
Butt
The person or thing at which criticism or ridicule is directed
His singing is the butt of dozens of jokes
Rump
A cut of beef or veal from the rump.
Butt
An archery or shooting target or range.
Rump
The buttocks.
Butt
The thicker end of something, especially a tool or a weapon
A rifle butt
Rump
The part of a bird's back nearest the tail.
Butt
The stub of a cigar or a cigarette.
Rump
The last or inferior part.
Butt
A person's buttocks or anus
I was being paid to sit on my butt and watch television
Rump
A legislature having only a small part of its original membership and therefore being unrepresentative or lacking in authority.
Butt
The trunk of a tree, especially the part just above the ground.
Rump
The hindquarters of a four-legged mammal, not including its legs
Butt
A cask, typically used for wine, beer, or water
A butt of malmsey
Rump
A cut of meat from the rump of an animal.
Butt
A liquid measure equal to 126 US gallons (equivalent to 477.5 litres).
Rump
The buttocks.
Butt
To hit or push against with the head or horns; ram.
Rump
A remnant, as in Rump Parliament.
Butt
To hit or push something with the head or horns.
Rump
(transitive) To turn one's back on, to show one's (clothed) backside to, as a sign of disrespect.
Butt
To project forward or out.
Rump
To fuck. pos=v.}}
Butt
To join or be joined end to end; abut.
Rump
To cheat.
Butt
A push or blow with the head or horns.
Rump
To ramble; to move (or talk) aimlessly.
Butt
A butt joint.
Rump
To move (someone or something) around.
Butt
A butt hinge.
Rump
The end of the backbone of an animal, with the parts adjacent; the buttock or buttocks.
Butt
One that serves as an object of ridicule or contempt
I was the butt of their jokes.
Rump
Among butchers, the piece of beef between the sirloin and the aitchbone piece. See Illust. of Beef.
Butt
A target, as in archery or riflery.
Rump
The hind or tail end; a fag-end; a remnant.
The Rump abolished the House of Lords, the army abolished the Rump, and by this army of saints Cromwell governed.
Butt
Butts A target range.
Rump
The part of a quadruped that corresponds to the human buttocks
Butt
An obstacle behind a target for stopping the shot.
Rump
Fleshy hindquarters; behind the loin and above the round
Butt
An embankment or hollow used as a blind by hunters of wildfowl.
Rump
The fleshy part of the human body that you sit on;
He deserves a good kick in the butt
Are you going to sit on your fanny and do nothing?
Butt
(Archaic) A goal.
Butt
(Obsolete) A bound; a limit.
Butt
The larger or thicker end of an object
The butt of a rifle.
Butt
An unburned end, as of a cigarette.
Butt
(Informal) A cigarette.
Butt
A short or broken remnant; a stub.
Butt
(Informal) The buttocks; the rear end.
Butt
A large cask.
Butt
A unit of volume equal to two hogsheads, usually the equivalent of 126 US gallons (about 477 liters).
Butt
(Slang) Very. Used as an intensive
Butt ugly.
Butt expensive.
Butt
(countable) The larger or thicker end of something; the blunt end, in distinction from the sharp or narrow end
Butt
The buttocks used as a minced oath in idiomatic expressions; less objectionable than arse/ass.
Get up off your butt and get to work.
Butt
(leather trades) The thickest and stoutest part of tanned oxhides, used for soles of boots, harness, trunks.
Butt
(countable) The waste end of anything.
Butt
(slang) A used cigarette.
Butt
A piece of land left unplowed at the end of a field.
Butt
Hassock.
Butt
(US) A crust end-piece of a loaf of bread.
Butt
An end of something, often distinguished in some way from the other end.
Butt
The end of a firearm opposite to that from which a bullet is fired.
She was hit in the face with the butt of a shotgun.
Butt
(lacrosse) The plastic or rubber cap used to cover the open end of a lacrosse stick's shaft in order to reduce injury.
Butt
The portion of a half-coupling fastened to the end of a hose.
Butt
The end of a connecting rod or other like piece, to which the boxing is attached by the strap, cotter, and gib.
Butt
(mechanical) A joint where the ends of two objects come squarely together without scarfing or chamfering.
Butt
(carpentry) A kind of hinge used in hanging doors, etc., so named because it is attached to the inside edge of the door and butts against the casing, instead of on its face, like the strap hinge; also called butt hinge.
Butt
(shipbuilding) The joint where two planks in a strake meet.
Butt
The blunt back part of an axehead or large blade. Also called the poll.
Butt
(countable) A limit; a bound; a goal; the extreme bound; the end.
Butt
A mark to be shot at; a target.
Butt
Usually as "butt of (a) joke" A person at whom ridicule, jest, or contempt is directed.
He's usually the butt of their jokes.
Butt
The hut or shelter of the person who attends to the targets in rifle practice.
Butt
A push, thrust, or sudden blow, given by the head; a head butt.
Be careful in the pen, that ram can knock you down with a butt.
The handcuffed suspect gave the officer a desperate butt in the chest.
Butt
A thrust in fencing.
Butt
(English units) An English measure of capacity for liquids, containing 126 wine gallons which is one-half tun; equivalent to the pipe.
Butt
A wooden cask for storing wine, usually containing 126 gallons.
Butt
(Northern England) Any of various flatfish such as sole, plaice or turbot
Butt
A heavy two-wheeled cart.
Butt
A three-wheeled cart resembling a wheelbarrow.
Butt
The shoulder of an animal, especially the portion above the picnic, as a cut of meat.
Butt
To join at the butt, end, or outward extremity; to terminate; to be bounded; to abut.
Butt
(transitive) To strike bluntly, particularly with the head.
Butt
(intransitive) To strike bluntly with the head.
Rams butt at other males during mating season.
Butt
A limit; a bound; a goal; the extreme bound; the end.
Here is my journey's end, here my buttAnd very sea mark of my utmost sail.
Butt
A mark to be shot at; a target.
The groom his fellow groom at butts defies,And bends his bow, and levels with his eyes.
Butt
A person at whom ridicule, jest, or contempt is directed; as, the butt of the company.
I played a sentence or two at my butt, which I thought very smart.
Butt
A push, thrust, or sudden blow, given by the head of an animal; as, the butt of a ram.
Butt
A thrust in fencing.
To prove who gave the fairer butt,John shows the chalk on Robert's coat.
Butt
A piece of land left unplowed at the end of a field.
The hay was growing upon headlands and butts in cornfields.
Butt
A joint where the ends of two objects come squarely together without scarfing or chamfering; - also called butt joint.
Butt
The joint where two planks in a strake meet.
Butt
A kind of hinge used in hanging doors, etc.; - so named because fastened on the edge of the door, which butts against the casing, instead of on its face, like the strap hinge; also called butt hinge.
Butt
The thickest and stoutest part of tanned oxhides, used for soles of boots, harness, trunks.
Butt
The hut or shelter of the person who attends to the targets in rifle practice.
Butt
The buttocks; as, get up off your butt and get to work; - used as a euphemism, less objectionable than ass.
Amen; and make me die a good old man!That's the butt end of a mother's blessing.
Butt
A large cask or vessel for wine or beer. It contains two hogsheads.
Butt
The common English flounder.
Butt
To join at the butt, end, or outward extremity; to terminate; to be bounded; to abut.
And Barnsdale there doth butt on Don's well-watered ground.
Butt
To strike by thrusting the head against; to strike with the head.
Two harmless lambs are butting one the other.
Butt
Thick end of the handle
Butt
A victim of ridicule or pranks
Butt
The fleshy part of the human body that you sit on;
He deserves a good kick in the butt
Are you going to sit on your fanny and do nothing?
Butt
Sports equipment consisting of an object set up for a marksman or archer to aim at
Butt
Finely ground tobacco wrapped in paper; for smoking
Butt
A joint made by fastening ends together without overlapping
Butt
A large cask (especially one holding a volume equivalent to 2 hogsheads or 126 gallons)
Butt
The small unused part of something (especially the end of a cigarette that is left after smoking)
Butt
Lie adjacent to another or share a boundary;
Canada adjoins the U.S.
England marches with Scotland
Butt
To strike, thrust or shove against, often with head or horns;
He butted his sister out of the way
Butt
Place end to end without overlapping;
The frames must be butted at the joints
Common Curiosities
Are there any common misunderstandings about the terms "butt" and "rump"?
A common misunderstanding is that "butt" might refer to a specific part of an animal in culinary contexts, similar to "rump," which it does not without qualifiers like "pork."
Does "butt" have any specific anatomical implications?
While "butt" broadly refers to the buttocks, it does not have specific anatomical details and is used more generally.
What are some synonyms for "butt"?
Synonyms for "butt" include "rear," "backside," and more informally, "bum."
How do different cultures view the usage of "butt"?
In many English-speaking cultures, "butt" is seen as informal and sometimes vulgar, making it less suitable in formal or professional settings.
Is "rump" used in any sports contexts?
"Rump" is rarely used in sports contexts, except possibly in horse racing or equestrian descriptions.
What are some synonyms for "rump"?
Synonyms for "rump" include "hindquarters," "rear end," and "posterior."
Is "rump" specific to a certain type of animal?
"Rump" can refer to the hindquarters of many types of animals, including domesticated livestock and wild species.
Can "rump" be used in casual conversation?
While it can be used, "rump" is less common in casual conversation due to its more formal and technical nature.
Can "butt" be used to refer to objects, not just people?
Yes, "butt" can also refer to the end portion of an object, such as the butt of a gun or a cigarette butt.
Does "rump" ever refer to the entirety of the back?
No, "rump" specifically refers to the upper part of the back near the tail of animals, not the entire back.
What literary uses does "butt" have?
In literature, "butt" is often used in a humorous or derogatory context to add character or humor to dialogue.
How do butchers use the term "rump"?
Butchers refer to "rump" as a specific cut of meat from the hindquarters of animals, prized for its flavor and suitability for various cooking methods.
Is "rump" considered a polite term?
Yes, "rump" is generally considered polite and appropriate for use in formal and public discussions.
What literary uses does "rump" have?
"Rump" is used in more descriptive, often serious contexts in literature, particularly in narratives involving animals or detailed physical descriptions.
How does the usage of "butt" and "rump" differ in medical contexts?
In medical contexts, "butt" is used less frequently due to its informal nature, whereas "rump" may be used in more formal anatomical descriptions.
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Written by
Urooj ArifUrooj is a skilled content writer at Ask Difference, known for her exceptional ability to simplify complex topics into engaging and informative content. With a passion for research and a flair for clear, concise writing, she consistently delivers articles that resonate with our diverse audience.
Edited by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
