kat

American  

[kaht] / kɑt /

Or khat,

noun

1. an evergreen shrub, Catha edulis, of Arabia and Africa, the leaves of which are used as a narcotic when chewed or made into a beverage.

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kat British  

/ kæt, kɑːt /

noun

1. a variant spelling of khat

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Etymology

Origin of kat

First recorded in 1855–60, kat is from the Arabic word qāt

Example Sentences

Seeking an everyman as a focus for his recent paintings, Vonn Cummings Sumner found a cat — or kat, as the word was spelled in George Herriman’s 1913-1944 comic strip, “Krazy Kat.”

From Washington Post • Mar. 31, 2023

It would make us laugh when she she's I enjoy going because I get a big hot dog before the game and a kit kat at half time.

From BBC • Sep. 20, 2021

John confuses letters, like b and d, while Jack struggles to link letters with sounds; he doesn’t recognize that kat sounds like the name of a familiar animal.

From Scientific American • Sep. 27, 2020

He wore the typical soft red tunic of a medium-ranked FogoTennis referee, and he jogged in place while muttering to himself, “En, de, trwa, kat, senk, sis … ” and performing backbends and calisthenics.

From Slate • Aug. 27, 2018

Sometimes a c is used instead of a k, even if it makes more sense for cat to be spelled kat.

From "Inside Out and Back Again" by Thanhha Lai