BUTTE or BUTE (Fr. butte, a hillock or rising ground), a word used in the Western States of North America for a flat topped hill surrounded by a steep escarpment from which a slope descends to the plain. It is sometimes used for "an elevation higher than a hill but not high enough for a mountain." The butte capped by a horizontal platform of hard rock is character istic of the arid plateau region of Western U.S.A. The term "knob" is occasionally used for the same feature and represents a reasonable English description of the shape.