overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

sputter.

Moist matter thrown out in small detached particles.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈspʌtɚ/General-American
  1. Moist matter thrown out in small detached particles.

    countable · uncountable
  2. Confused and hasty speech.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Probably representing Middle English *sputren, *sputrien, a frequentative form of Middle English sputen (“to spout, vomit”), equivalent to spout + -er. Cognate with Saterland Frisian spüttern (“to inject, spray, splash”), West Frisian sputterje (“to sputter”), Dutch sputteren (“to sputter”), Low German sputtern, spruttern (“to sprinkle”), German sprudeln (“to spout, squirt”). Compare splutter.

verb/ˈspʌtɚ/General-American
  1. To emit saliva or spit from the mouth in small, scattered portions, as in rapid speaking.

    intransitive
  2. To speak so rapidly as to emit saliva; to utter words hastily and indistinctly, with a spluttering sound, as in rage.

    ambitransitive
  3. To throw out anything, as little jets of steam, with a noise like that made by one sputtering.

    ambitransitive
  4. To cause surface atoms or electrons of a solid to be ejected by bombarding it with heavy atoms or ions.

    intransitive
  5. To coat the surface of an object by sputtering.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

Probably representing Middle English *sputren, *sputrien, a frequentative form of Middle English sputen (“to spout, vomit”), equivalent to spout + -er. Cognate with Saterland Frisian spüttern (“to inject, spray, splash”), West Frisian sputterje (“to sputter”), Dutch sputteren (“to sputter”), Low German sputtern, spruttern (“to sprinkle”), German sprudeln (“to spout, squirt”). Compare splutter.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

sputter has 7 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

sputter studiosputter workshello, sputter

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.