bread-and-butter

1 of 2

adjective

bread-and-but·​ter ˈbred-ən(d)-ˈbə-tər 

1

a

: being as basic as the earning of one's livelihood

bread-and-butter issues

b(1)

: reliable

our bread-and-butter repertoire

(2)

: dependable as a source of income

a company's bread-and-butter products

2

: sent or given as thanks for hospitality

a bread-and-butter letter

bread and butter

2 of 2

noun

: a means of sustenance or livelihood

Examples of bread-and-butter in a Sentence

Noun

Casual clothing has always been the company's bread and butter.

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

So defenses sag off them along the perimeter in order to take away those bread-and-butter cuts. —Andy Greder, Twin Cities, 3 Mar. 2026

Banks focused more on providing suites of services to the well off, such as home loans, credit cards, and brokerage accounts, and less on making bread-and-butter loans to working families. —Annie Lowrey, The Atlantic, 3 Mar. 2026

Noun

The expectation isn’t for Thomas to become a lethal goal-scoring threat or shot volume machine, because passing is rightfully the bread and butter of his game. —Shayna Goldman, New York Times, 28 Feb. 2026

These skills, though, diverge from the bread and butter of STEM degrees as they’re oriented around training AI rather than building it. —Jake Angelo, Fortune, 26 Feb. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

circa 1837, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Noun

1770, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for bread-and-butter

• kilometre
• butter
• clutter
• cutter
• flutter
• gutter
• mutter
• nutter
• putter
• rutter
• shutter
• sputter

Kids Definition

bread-and-butter

adjective

ˌbred-ᵊn-ˈbət-ər

1

a

: concerned with or being as basic as earning a living

bread-and-butter economic issues

b

: dependable

bread-and-butter products that always sell

2

: sent or given as thanks for hospitality

a bread-and-butter note