Where does duck butter come from?
The term duck butter is older than you may want to believe. In the 1930s, it was slang for semen, and in the 1950s, smegma. The duck may refer to the smell of duck droppings, according to Green’s Dictionary of Slang, and the butter, its liquidness and light color.
While use of the word continued into the 1990s, the senses of duck butter admitted a new and more common one in the early 2000s: sweat in the crotch, usually under a male’s scrotum. Other definitions add anal and vaginal secretions, not unlike its slang cousin truffle butter. Sex isn’t the only source of these fluids: exercise, hot temperatures, and excessive seating may form the quacky (but natural) lather.
The 2018 romantic comedy Duck Butter took advantage of the slang. It follows two women (Laia Costa and Alia Shawkat) who are determined to have sex every hour, on the hour—the prolonged sexual activity apparently churning up some serious duck butter, among things (like emotions).
Examples of duck butter
Who uses duck butter?
While both men and women are said to get duck butter, the term is more closely associated with—how do we put it?—ball sweat.
Half of you nasty fucks out here smelling like duck butter
— Rasheed 🇵🇸 (@it_sheed) August 17, 2018
That association bewildered some over the choice of the term as the title for the 2018 film.
All of the definitions of duck butter are horrible. Why is this the name of a lesbian rom drama?
— Dwayne? (@Dfapatterson) August 26, 2018
But as with many sexual slang terms, duck butter sounds innocent enough, which means class clowns seize on it for some jokes.
Told everyone in the car I hope you brought your duck butter today it’s going to be a hot one. My grandma “well I don’t have any duck butter” 😂😂😂😂😑😂
— Kyle (@KyleMartin2386) August 17, 2018
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of duck butter like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of duck butter that will help our users expand their word mastery.