Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbæntə/Category:English 2-syllable words#BANTERCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#BANTER

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#BANTER
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈbæntɚ/, [ˈbɛən.tɚ]Category:English 2-syllable words#BANTERCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#BANTER

  • Audio (California):

    (file)

    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#BANTER
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈbæntə/, [ˈbeːn.tɐ]Category:English 2-syllable words#BANTERCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#BANTER

  • Audio (Queensland):

    (file)

    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#BANTER
• Rhymes: -æntə(ɹ)Category:Rhymes:English/æntə(ɹ)#BANTERCategory:Rhymes:English/æntə(ɹ)/2 syllables#BANTER

Noun

banter (uncountable)Category:English lemmas#BANTERCategory:English nouns#BANTERCategory:English uncountable nouns#BANTERCategory:English uncountable nouns#BANTERCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#BANTERCategory:Pages with entries#BANTERCategory:Pages with 1 entry#BANTER

2. 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:

     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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#BANTER

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

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

     Category:English terms with quotations#BANTER

4. Good-humoured bits of monologue and/or conversational prompts used in any of a wide range of occupations that must frequently interact with the public (for example, store clerks, salespersons, nurses).

   Coordinate terms: chit-chat, small talk; patterCategory:English links with manual fragments#BANTER, sales pitch

Verb

banter (third-person singular simple present banters, present participle bantering, simple past and past participle bantered)Category:English lemmas#BANTERCategory:English verbs#BANTERCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#BANTERCategory:Pages with entries#BANTERCategory:Pages with 1 entry#BANTER

1. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#BANTER) To engage in banter or playful conversation.
2. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#BANTER) To play or do something amusing.
3. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#BANTER) To tease (someone) mildly.

   Synonyms: kid, wind up, chaff

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

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

     Category:English terms with quotations#BANTER

   • 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:

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

     Category:English terms with quotations#BANTER

   • 1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “Levitical”, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 8:

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

     Category:English terms with quotations#BANTER

4. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#BANTER) 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. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#BANTER) 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. […], London: […] W[illiam Rufus] Chetwood, […]; and T. Edling, […], published 1722, →OCLC, pages 69–70:

     [W]e diverted ourſelves vvith bantering ſeveral other poor Scholars, vvith hopes of being at leaſt his Lordſhip's Chaplains and putting on a Scarf; […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#BANTER

6. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#BANTER, USCategory:American English#BANTER, Southern and Western, colloquialCategory:English colloquialisms#BANTER) To challenge to a match.
7. (UKCategory:British English#BANTER, dialectCategory:English dialectal terms#BANTER) To haggle; cheapen the price.

References

Further reading

• Michael Quinion (1996–2026), “Banter”, in World Wide Words.

Anagrams

• Barnet, Breant, barnet, Bernat, Barten