gut

From Middle English gut, gutte, gotte, from Old English gutt (usually in plural guttas (“guts, entrails”)), from Proto-Germanic *gut-, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰewd- (“to pour”). Related to English gote (“drain”), Old English ġēotan (“to pour”). More at gote, yote.

The verb is from Middle English gutten, gotten (“to gut”).

• IPA^(key): /ɡʌt/
• (Inland Northern American)

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• (Northern England) IPA^(key): /ɡʊt/
• Rhymes: -ʌt

gut (countable and uncountable, plural guts)

1. The alimentary canal, especially the intestine.
2. (informal) The abdomen of a person, especially one that is enlarged.

   You've developed quite a beer gut since I last met you.

3. (uncountable) The intestines of an animal used to make strings of a tennis racket or violin, etc.
4. A person's emotional, visceral self.

   I have a funny feeling in my gut.

5. (informal) A class that is not demanding or challenging.

   You should take Intro Astronomy: it's a gut.

6. A narrow passage of water.

   the Gut of Canso

   • 1887 March 21, Rudyard Kipling, “Kidnapped”, in Plain Tales from the Hills, Calcutta: Thacker, Spink and Co.; London: W. Thacker & Co., published 1888, →OCLC, page 111:

     There is a tide in the affairs of men, / Which, taken any way you please, is bad, / And strands them in forsaken guts and creeks / No decent soul would think of visiting.

7. The sac of silk taken from a silkworm when ready to spin its cocoon, for the purpose of drawing it out into a thread. When dry, it is exceedingly strong, and is used as the snood of a fishing line.

• (alimentary canal, intestine): alimentary canal, digestive system, guts, intestine, tharm, innards
• (abdomen of a person, especially one that is enlarged): abdomen, beer belly (enlarged), beer gut (UK, enlarged), belly, paunch (enlarged), potbelly (enlarged), stomach, tum, tummy
• (intestines of an animal used to make strings): catgut

gut (third-person singular simple present guts, present participle gutting, simple past and past participle gutted)

1. (transitive) To eviscerate.

   The fisherman guts the fish before cooking them.

   The lioness gutted her prey.

2. (transitive) To remove or destroy the most important parts of.

   Fire gutted the building.

   Congress gutted the welfare bill.

   • 1982 July 20, National Transportation Safety Board, “1.12 Wreckage and Impact Information”, in Aircraft Accident Report: Pilgrim Airlines Flight 458, deHavilland DHC-6-100, N127PM, Near Providence, Rhode Island, February 21, 1982‎, archived from the original on 3 April 2024, page 4:

     The fuselage came to rest 522 feet from the initial impact point on a magnetic heading of 175 degrees. The complete fuselage from the nose section, including the nose gear section, aft to the empennage, was extensively burned and gutted by fire. The cabin area, which consisted of only the lower fuselage, was melted and the metal was visible in the ice.

3. To dishearten; to crush (the spirits of).
   • 2016 October 4, Danielle Pearl, In Ruins, Forever, →ISBN:

     It's no worse than what he said in Miami, but hearing him repeat it, attribute it to my father...it guts me. “That's who your family is. Who you are. Stangers—Stanleys, whatever your fucking names are,” he spits.

   • 2017 October 4, Angela Quarles, Earning It: A Romantic Comedy, Unsealed Room Press, →ISBN:

     What's bothering me is that I'd felt more for him than I realized, and it guts me that it's over before it can really get going.

• gutting, gutted

gut (comparative more gut, superlative most gut)

1. Made of gut.

   a violin with gut strings

2. Instinctive.

   gut reaction

• blood-and-guts

• UTG, tug

• got (northern Moselle Franconian)
• jot (Ripuarian)

From Old High German guod, northern variant of guot.

• IPA^(key): /ɡuːt/

gut (masculine gude, feminine gut, comparative besser, superlative et beste)

1. (southern Moselle Franconian) good

• IPA^(key): /ɡut/, [ɡ̊ud̥]

From Norwegian gutt.

gut c (singular definite gutten, plural indefinite gutter)

1. boy, lad, bloke

From English gut.

gut c (singular definite gutten, not used in plural form)

1. gut (intestines of an animal used to make strings of a tennis racket or violin, etc)

A minced oath from god.

• Audio

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gut

1. gee

   Gut, daar heb ik nooit zo over nagedacht. ― Gee, I never thought of it that way.

• gůt (Early New High German)

Inherited from Middle High German guot, from Old High German guot, from Proto-West Germanic *gōd, from Proto-Germanic *gōdaz, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰedʰ- (“to unite, be associated, suit”).

• IPA^(key): /ɡuːt/ (standard)
• (Germany)

  (file)

• (Germany)

  (file)

• (Austria)

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ɡʊt/ (colloquial, chiefly for the interjection)
• Rhymes: -uːt

gut (strong nominative masculine singular guter, comparative besser, superlative am besten)

1. good (acting in the interest of what is beneficial, ethical, or moral)

   Wir müssen gut sein, um uns gut zu fühlen.

   We must be good to feel good.

2. good (effective; useful)
3. good (fortunate)
4. good (having a particularly pleasant taste)
5. all right, fair, proper (satisfactory)
6. good (full; entire; at least as much as)
7. being of an academic grade evidencing performance well above the average requirements, B

• schlecht (qualitatively or ethically bad)
• böse (morally evil)

gut (comparative besser, superlative am besten)

1. well (accurately, competently, satisfactorily)

   Die Mannschaft hat gut gespielt.

   The team played well.

2. a little more than (with measurements)

   Antonym: knapp

   Ich wohne seit gut zwanzig Jahren in Berlin.

   I've lived in Berlin for over twenty years/for a good twenty years.

   Das Bett ist gut zwei Meter lang.

   The bed is a little over two meters long.

3. easily, likely

   Dieser Gegenstand ist gut zu finden.

   That item is easily found.

   Es kann gut sein, dass du nächstes Jahr verheiratet bist.

   You may well be married next year.

gut

1. okay, all right, now then

   Gut, dann fangen wir mal an.

   All right, then let's get started.

• “gut” in Duden online
• “gut” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “gut” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “gut” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.

gut

1. Alternative form of gutte

Possibly from Dutch guit (“troublemaker”).

• IPA^(key): /ɡʉːt/

gut m (definite singular guten, indefinite plural gutar, definite plural gutane)

1. a boy (young male)

• ballgut

• gutt (Bokmål)

“gut” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

From Middle High German and Old High German guot. Compare German gut, Dutch goed, English good.

gut (comparative besser, superlative bescht)

1. good
2. kind

• besser
• bescht

gut m (plural guts)

1. drop

From English good.

gut

1. well

• gutpela
• nogut

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /ɡɨ̞t/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /ɡɪt/

gut

1. Soft mutation of cut.