Idioms about cat
Origin of cat
Words nearby cat
Other definitions for cat (2 of 4)
Other definitions for cat (3 of 4)
Other definitions for cat (4 of 4)
MORE ABOUT CAT
Where does the word cat come from?
While cats may be more enigmatic and reclusive than dogs in real life, when it comes to the source of the word cat, it’s a bit easier to grasp.
The origin of the word dog is one of the great mysteries of English etymology. Learn why in our slideshow “‘Dog,’ ‘Boy,’ And Other Words That We Don’t Know Where They Came From.”
The word cat is recorded in Old English, and hasn’t changed much since. (Hey, if it isn’t broken why fix it?) The masculine form was catt, the feminine catte.
The word cat is most likely related to the Late Latin cattus, source of some other cat words you may have heard, including the Spanish gato and French chat.
Now that you know how cats got their name, why not find out how some of our other most beloved pets got theirs in the slideshow: “Where Do The Words For Our Pets Come From?”
Did you know … ?
Cats are actually an interesting case among domesticated animals. Recent research has shown that—unlike the other animals humans have domesticated, such as dogs, pigs, cows, and horses—cats have not changed much at all genetically and physically over thousands of years. And, yet, cats have clearly lived alongside humans for a long time, as even ancient Egyptian art depicts cats living in people’s homes. Cats’ behaviors compel some experts to refer to them as “semi-domesticated,” “self-domesticated,” or not domesticated at all.
The International Cat Association currently recognizes 71 breeds of cat breeds, ranging from the American Shorthair and Maine Coon to the Savannah cat and Bengal cat. (No, Doja Cat isn’t the name of a pedigree cat; it’s the stage name of Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini, a hip-hop artist who broke into the mainstream with her 2019 album Hot Pink.)On average, domestic cats live for around 15 years, and spend over half that time sleeping—their wakeful hours, of course, pulsing with purring. But why do cats purr? The exact answer remains a mystery, but cats purr when they are both content and nervous, and they make the sound by moving the muscles in their larynx, which causes the air to vibrate. Some scientists think purring evolved as a way to calm themselves down.
Our relationship to cats have inspired a great number of idioms, such as:
- cat got one’s tongue
- curiosity killed the cat
- let the cat out of the bag
- more than one way to skin a cat
Cats have also excited a lot of contemporary internet slang and language play, from LOLcat to cat memes like Nyan Cat, Grumpy Cat, Woman Yells at Cat, and many more.
How to use cat in a sentence
British Dictionary definitions for cat (1 of 5)
Derived forms of cat
catlike, adjectivecattish, adjectiveWord Origin for cat
British Dictionary definitions for cat (2 of 5)
British Dictionary definitions for cat (3 of 5)
- short for catalytic converter
- (as modifier)a cat car