kitty

See also: Kitty

English

A kitty (feline kitten).

Etymology 1

From kit (“kitten”) +‎ -y (“diminutive suffix”). Compare Dutch katje (“kitty”).

Alternative forms

• kittie
• kity, kibty (deliberate misspellings)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɪ.ti/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): [ˈkʰɪ.ɾi]
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): [ˈkʰɘ.ɾiː]

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪti
• Hyphenation: kit‧ty
• Homophones: kiddie, kiddy (US, Canada, New Zealand)

Noun

kitty (plural kitties)

1. (informal) A kitten or young cat, or sometimes adult cat.

   He said it was a big beast with fangs, but it turned out to be a little kitty.

   • 2007, Pam Johnson-Bennett, Starting from Scratch: How to Correct Behavior Problems in Your Adult Cat:

     Even how a child picks up and handles the cat can make the kitty begin to fear the very sight of the youngster.

2. (childish, sometimes capitalized) A pet name for a cat.

   Here Kitty Kitty! Nice Kitty Kitty!

3. (slang) Euphemistic form of pussy: vulva and/or vagina.
   • 2017, CoCo Amoure, Promise Me Forever 2: Falling For A Young Boss, unnumbered page:

     The way Tariq was licking her kitty had her clutching the sheets.

   • 2020, Shanté Funches, Web of Desire, unnumbered page:

     She'd heard most men didn't have the skills to make a girl lose her mind by licking her kitty.

   • 2021, Latto, "Big Energy (Clean Version)", single:

     Can't skip foreplay, kill the kitty cold case

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:kitty.

Derived terms

• dust kitty
• kitty bar the door
• kitty-cat
• kitty cat
• kitty-corner
• kitty corner
• kitty-cornered
• kitty crack
• kitty cruise
• kitty kiss
• kitty litter
• kitty party
• kitty's titties
• kitty wants a corner
• kitty witty
• pet the kitty
• tough titty said the kitty

 

Related terms

• kitteh
• kitten
• kittenish
• kittenlike

 

Translations

informal: kitten, young cat

• Arabic: هُرَيْرَة f (hurayra)
• Belarusian: кацяня́ n (kacjanjá), кацянё n (kacjanjó)
• Bulgarian: котенце n (kotence)
• Catalan: mix (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 貓仔 / 猫仔 (maau¹ zai²)

  Mandarin: 貓咪 / 猫咪 (zh) (māomī)

• Danish: kattekilling (da), killing (da)
• Dutch: katje (nl), kattenjong
• Esperanto: (male) kaĉjo (eo), (female) kanjo (eo), kateto, katido (eo)
• Estonian: kiisu (et)
• Finnish: kisu (fi)
• French: minet (fr) m, chaton (fr) m
• Georgian: ფისო (piso), ფისუნია (pisunia)
• German: Kätzchen (de) n, Mieze (de) f
• Greek: ψιψίνα (el) f (psipsína)
• Hebrew: חֲתַלְתּוּל (he) m (khataltúl), חֲתַלְתּוּלָה f (khataltulá), גּוּר חֲתוּלִים m (gúr khatulím), גּוּרַת חֲתוּלִים f (gurát khatulím)
• Hungarian: cica (hu)
• Ido: kateto (io), katyuno (io)
• Italian: gattino (it), micio (it) m, micetto m, micino m
• Japanese: (young) 仔猫 (ja) (koneko), 子猫 (ja) (koneko); (small) 小猫 (ja) (koneko), 子ネコ (koneko)
• Kayan: kittaou class ar
• Korean: 나비 (ko) (nabi), 냐옹 (nyaong), 고양이 (ko) (goyang'i)
• Louisiana Creole French: minou
• Macedonian: маче n (mače), маченце n (mačence)
• Norwegian: kattunge (no)
• Persian: پیشی (fa) (piši)
• Polish: kotek (pl) m
• Portuguese: gatinho (pt)
• Russian: ко́шка (ru) f (kóška), ко́шечка (ru) m (kóšečka), ки́са (ru) f (kísa), ки́ска (ru) f (kíska), котёнок (ru) m (kotjónok) (kitten)
• Serbo-Croatian: маца f, maca (sh)
• Spanish: gatito (es), minino (es) m, gatico (es) m, michi (es)
• Swedish: kisse (sv) c
• Ukrainian: кошеня́ n (košenjá)
• Volapük: (♂♀) katül, (♂) hikatül, (♀) jikatül, (diminutive ♂♀) katil (vo), (diminutive ♂) hikatil, (diminutive ♀) jikatil
• Yiddish: קעצל n (ketsl), קעצעלע n (ketsele)

childish: pet name for a cat

• Belarusian: кі́са f (kísa), кі́ска f (kíska)
• Esperanto: kateto
• Finnish: kisu (fi)
• French: mimi (fr)
• Hungarian: cica (hu)
• Italian: micio (it) m
• Japanese: ニャンコ (ja) (nyanko), ネコちゃん (neko-chan)
• Polish: kotek (pl) m, kiciuś (pl) m, kicia (pl) f
• Russian: ки́са (ru) f (kísa), ки́ска (ru) f (kíska), ко́шечка (ru) f (kóšečka), ко́тик (ru) m (kótik) (male)
• Swedish: kisse (sv) c, misse (sv) c
• Turkish: pisi (tr)
• Ukrainian: ки́ця (uk) f (kýcja), ки́цька (uk) f (kýcʹka), ко́тик m (kótyk) (male), кото́к m (kotók) (male), кі́тка (uk) f (kítka)
• Yiddish: קעצעלע n (ketsele)

euphemism: pussy

• Finnish: mirri (fi)

See also

• pussy

Further reading

• cat on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

Noun

kitty (plural kitties)

1. A money pool used for a particular purpose, such as for a card game or for shared expenses.
   • 2015, Betty Hall Jones, Peter Vacher, Swingin' on Central Avenue: African American Jazz in Los Angeles, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 99:

     They told me you always had to come back to the band with your hand open so they could see what tip you got and you put that in the kitty.

2. (poker, slang) In a home game, a small, specified amount taken from each pot to pay the host's expenses.
3. (card games) A set of additional cards dealt face down in some games.

Synonyms

• (money pool): pot

Translations

pool of money

• Bulgarian: банка (bg) f (banka)
• Finnish: kassa (fi)
• French: cagnotte (fr) f
• German: Spielkasse f
• Greek: κοινό ταμείο n (koinó tameío)
• Irish: leac f
• Portuguese: vaquinha (pt) f
• Spanish: pozo (es) m, vaquita (es) f, bote (es) m

poker: in a home game, a specified amount to pay the host's expenses

card games: set of additional cards dealt face down in some games

• Finnish: pöytäkortit pl
• Irish: ciste m