banter

banter

English

WOTD – 8 February 2007

Etymology

1670s as verb, 1680s as noun. The origin is unknown, possibly from London street slang;[1] ostensibly as *bant +‎ -er (frequentative suffix). Possibly an Anglo-Gaelicism from the Irish bean (“woman”), so that "banter" means "talk of women."

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbæntə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈbæntɚ/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (AU)

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• Rhymes: -æntə(ɹ)

Noun

banter (uncountable)

1. Sharp, good-humoured, playful, typically spontaneous conversation.

   Synonyms: pleasantry, raillery

   • 1927–1929, M[ohandas] K[aramchand] Gandhi, chapter XVIII, in The Story of My Experiments with Truth: Translated from the Original in Gujarati, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Ahmedabad, Gujarat: Navajivan Press, OCLC 875661731:

     I was elected to the Executive Committee of the Vegetarian Society, and made it a point to attend every one of its meetings, but I always felt tongue-tied. Dr. Oldfield once said to me, 'You talk to me quite all right, but why is it that you never open your lips at a committee meeting? You are a drone.' I appreciated the banter. The bees are ever busy, the drone is a thorough idler.

   • 2007, Evelyn M. Field, Bully Blocking, page 17:

     This bullying continuum illustrates the progressive escalation from harmless banter to bullying and criminal behaviours.

Translations

good humoured conversation

Bulgarian: закачка (bg) (zakačka), задявка (bg) (zadjavka) Catalan: gatzara (ca) f Dutch: geplaag (nl), scherts (nl), badinage (nl) Finnish: rupattelu (fi) French: plaisanterie (fr) f, badinage (fr) m Galician: parola (gl) f, leria (gl) f German: Gelabere (de) n (colloquial), Wortgeplänkel (de) n, Geplänkel (de) n, Scherz (de) m, Neckerei (de) f, Ulk (de) m, Geplauder (de) n, Gelaber (de) n Icelandic: stríðni f Italian: chiacchierata (it) f Japanese: からかい (karakai) Macedonian: за́качка f (zákačka) Maori: whakatara Polish: przekomarzanie się Portuguese: caçoada (pt) f, brincadeira (pt) f, resenha (pt) f Russian: шутливая беседа f Scots: craic Spanish: charla (es) f, plática f, cháchara (es) f Swedish: smågnabb, snack (colloquial), småprat (sv), munhuggande n Turkish: muhabbet (tr)

Verb

banter (third-person singular simple present banters, present participle bantering, simple past and past participle bantered)

1. (intransitive) To engage in banter or playful conversation.
2. (intransitive) To play or do something amusing.
3. (transitive) To tease (someone) mildly.

   Synonyms: kid, wind up

   • 1760 January 28 (first performance), [Samuel] Foote, The Minor, a Comedy. […], London: […] J. Coote, […]; G[eorge] Kearsly, […]; T[homas] Davies, […], published 1760, OCLC 1154845398, Act II, page 56:

     Here comes the muſty trader, running over vvith remonſtrances. I muſt banter the cit.

   • 1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], Tales of a Traveller, (please specify |part=1 to 4), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], OCLC 864083:

     Hag-ridden by my own fancy all night, and then bantered on my haggard looks the next day.

   • 1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], Shirley. A Tale. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], OCLC 84390265:

     Mr. Sweeting was bantered about his stature—he was a little man, a mere boy in height and breadth compared with the athletic Malone […]

4. (transitive) To joke about; to ridicule (a trait, habit, etc.).
   • June 1804, William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham

     If they banter your regularity, order, and love of study, banter in return their neglect of them.

5. (transitive) To delude or trick; to play a prank upon.
   • 1722 (indicated as 1721), [Daniel Defoe], The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, &c. […], 3rd edition, London: […] W[illiam Rufus] Chetwood, […]; and T. Edlin, […]; W[illiam] Mears, […]; J. Brotherton, […]; C. King, and J. Stags, […], published 1722, OCLC 745118774:

     We diverted ourselves with bantering several other poor scholars with hopes of being at least his lordship's chaplain.

6. (transitive, US, Southern and Western, colloquial) To challenge to a match.
7. (UK, dialect) To haggle; cheapen the price.

Derived terms

• Archbishop of Banterbury
• bant
• Bantersaurus Rex

Translations

to engage in banter

Bulgarian: задявам се (zadjavam se) Dutch: schertsen (nl) Finnish: pilailla (fi) French: badiner (fr) Galician: parolar (gl) German: albern (de), scherzen (de), plaudern (de), necken (de), sich necken, schäkern (de) Maori: whakatara Polish: przekomarzać się (pl) Spanish: charlar (es), bromear (es) Turkish: muhabbet etmek (tr) Walloon: loumter (wa)

to play or do something amusing

Czech: žertovat (cs) impf, laškovat impf Finnish: leikitellä (fi) French: s'amuser (fr) German: Spaß haben, sich amüsieren, spielen (de), sich vergnügen Polish: robić psikus impf, zrobić psikus pf Spanish: divertirse (es)

to tease mildly

Bulgarian: закачам се (zakačam se), шегувам се (šeguvam se) Chinese: Mandarin: 談笑／谈笑 (zh) (tánxiào) Czech: škádlit (cs) impf Dutch: plagen (nl) Finnish: kiusoitella (fi) French: taquiner (fr) German: necken (de), verulken (de), auf den Arm nehmen (de), sich necken, sticheln (de) Icelandic: stríða (is) Ido: moketar (io) Italian: stuzzicare (it) Polish: przekomarzać się (pl) Portuguese: caçoar (pt), bulir (pt) Russian: добродушно подшучивать (dobrodušno podšučivatʹ), подтрунивать (ru) (podtrunivatʹ), поддразнивать (ru) (poddraznivatʹ) Spanish: torear (es), burlarse de (es), tomar el pelo a (es), chacotear (es) Turkish: takılmak (tr)

References

1. Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “banter”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Further reading

• Michael Quinion (1996–2023), “Banter”, in World Wide Words.

Anagrams

• Barnet, Bernat, barnet