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• bread and butter
  bread and butter

  noun

  bread spread with butter.
• bread-and-butter
  bread-and-butter

  adjective

  providing a livelihood or basic source of income; supplying the basic needs of life.

bread and butter

¹ American  

noun

1. bread spread with butter.

2. a basic means of support; source of livelihood; sustenance.

   The automobile industry is the bread and butter of many Detroiters.

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bread-and-butter ² American  

[bred-n-buht-er] / ˈbrɛd nˈbʌt ər /

adjective

1. providing a livelihood or basic source of income; supplying the basic needs of life.

   a bread-and-butter job; the agency's bread-and-butter account.

2. of or relating to basic needs.

   housing and other bread-and-butter political issues.

3. basic or everyday; staple; routine.

4. expressing thanks for hospitality.

   a bread-and-butter letter.

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bread and butter British  

noun

1. (modifier) a means of support or subsistence; livelihood

   the inheritance was their bread and butter

2. 1. providing a basic means of subsistence

      a bread-and-butter job

   2. solid, reliable, or practical

      a bread-and-butter player

   3. expressing gratitude, as for hospitality (esp in the phrase bread-and-butter letter )

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bread and butter Idioms  

1. The essential, sustaining element, as in The quality of the schools is the bread and butter of town property values . This idiom alludes to a basic food, bread spread with butter. [c. 1700]

2. Means of livelihood, as in John's job is the family's bread and butter . [First half of 1700s]

3. Ordinary, routine, as in Don't worry about it; this is just a bread and butter assignment . [Second half of 1800s]

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Etymology

Origin of bread and butter¹

First recorded in 1620–30

Origin of bread-and-butter²

First recorded in 1720–30; adj. use of noun phrase bread and butter

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bread and butter bread-and-butter

"Their bread and butter isn't dealing with really complex medical presentations," he said.

From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026

While some projects involved potentially meaningful research, Navatek’s bread and butter was R&D that went nowhere.

From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026

Granted, the Emmys have made repetitiveness its bread and butter for decades now.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 26, 2026

The bread and butter of Boston asset management has been actively managed equity mutual funds, a business that has been crimped by investors choosing exchange-traded funds, index funds, and alternative investments instead.

From Barron's ● May 1, 2026

And I’m happily eating folded-over bread and butter sandwiches on the couch, my book in my lap, my legs across the arm of the chair.

From "Al Capone Does My Shirts" by Gennifer Choldenko

As a first-generation Mexican American and accountant from the same part of town as the sheriff, he’s a bread-and-butter Luna supporter.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026

Banks stand to earn less on some bread-and-butter activities, such as making longer-term loans to customers, relative to the interest they pay out to clients on short-term deposits.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026

The company’s bread-and-butter gaming business remained a steady source of revenue in the second quarter, with domestic games revenue rising 17% thanks to deferred gross receipts from the previous quarter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

So-called bread-and-butter issues, such as jobs and the economy, repeatedly rank much higher than foreign matters.

From Salon ● Apr. 16, 2026

I even got to sample Grandma Mayer’s bread-and-butter pickles.

From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney

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