stammer

Etymology

From Middle English stameren, from Old English stamerian, from Proto-West Germanic *stamrōn, from Proto-Germanic *stamrōną (“to stammer”). Compare German stammeln, Dutch stameren, Old Norse stammr. Doublet of stumble.

verb

1. (intransitive) To keep repeating a particular sound involuntarily during speech.
2. (transitive) To utter with a stammer, or with timid hesitancy.
   He blushed, and stammered a few words of apology.
   The high school had a send-off in my honour. It was an uncommon thing for a young man of Rajkot to go to England. I had written out a few words of thanks. But I could scarcely stammer them out. I remember how my head reeled and how my whole frame shook as I stood up to read them. 1927-29, M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai, Part I, Chapter xi

noun

1. The involuntary repetition of a sound in speech.
   She said goodbye in a stammer.
2. A speech defect whereby someone speaks with a stammer