- The phrase "but her face" has been taken out of a sentence with a format similar to the following: Everything on her is cute, but her face. The phrase is then run together. The "h" sound is overtaken by the "t" and is spelled "butter." This spelling may have influenced "but-her" as "butter" to be reevaluated as a word on its own, making "butter" have the same function as "fire" in "fireman."
Butterface.
noun phrasal compounding
A person, usually a girl, who is physically attractive aside from having an ugly face; bagger(slang)
Etymology : "But" from Old English "be-utan," meaning "except." "Her" from Old English third person feminine pronoun." "Face" from Latin "facies," meaning "appearance."
Source : "Hilary Swank is a classic Hollywood butterface." (Gunaxin.com 11/20/2008)
Last modified: 25 November 2013