stutter
pronunciation
How to pronounce stutter in British English:
UK [ˈstʌtə(r)]
How to pronounce stutter in American English:
US [ˈstʌtɚ]
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- Noun:
- a speech disorder involving hesitations and involuntary repetitions of certain sounds
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- Verb:
- speak haltingly
Word Origin
- stutter (v.)
- 1560s, frequentative form of stutt "to stutter," from Middle English stutten "to stutter, stammer" (late 14c.), cognate with Middle Low German stoten "to knock, strike against, collide," from Proto-Germanic *staut- "push, thrust" (cognates: Old English stotan, Old High German stozan, Gothic stautan "to push, thrust"), from PIE *(s)teu- (1) "to hit, beat, knock against" (see steep (adj.)). The noun is attested from 1854. Related: Stuttered; stuttering; stutterer.
Example
- 1. About 5 percent of children stutter , but most outgrow it .
- 2. In his excellent memoir stutter , marc shell relates that his father was anxiously aware that his own uncle and his older son were stammerers .
- 3. The relatively low-budget british film , about king george vi 's attempt to overcome his stutter , took four awards at the ceremony , including best picture .
- 4. As a british friend recently noted to me , it is chiefly great britain 's upper classes , who have been plagued by the hazing and corporeal misery imposed by the public school system , who stutter .
- 5. Further study of south asians has shown that mutations in two other genes , gnptg and nagpa , are found in individuals who stutter , but not in non-stutterers .