butterfingers
butterfingers Lexical Profile
butterfingers Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A clumsy person who frequently drops things or fails to catch objects.
"Don't toss the car keys to a butterfingers like me while I'm standing near the storm drain."
An inability to hold on to or catch things steadily; manual clumsiness.
"He suffered a sudden case of butterfingers and dropped the glass bowl on the kitchen floor."
• interjection
Used as a playful or teasing exclamation when someone accidentally drops or fumbles an object.
"Oops, butterfingers! Let me help you pick up those papers."
Word Nuance & Usage
Although plural in form, "butterfingers" is almost always used as a singular countable noun when referring to an individual (e.g., "He is such a butterfingers").
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
First recorded in the early 17th century and later popularized by Charles Dickens in *The Pickwick Papers* (1836) during a cricket match scene, the compound metaphorically imagines a person's fingers coated in slippery butter.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.