# chat
## English
### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA: /t͡ʃæt/
* Audio (General American):(file)
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Rhymes: -æt

### Etymology 1

Abbreviation of chatter. The bird sense refers to the sound of its call.

#### Verb

chat (third-person singular simple present chats, present participle chatting, simple past and past participle chatted)
* To be engaged in informal conversation.
    She chatted with her friend in the cafe.
    I like to chat over a coffee with a friend.
* To talk more than a few words.
    I met my old friend in the street, so we chatted for a while.
* (transitive) To talk of; to discuss.
    They chatted politics for a while.
** 2014, Lenny Smith, Choices, page 43:We would get totally stoned and usually drunk too and chat a load of nonsense into the small hours.
* (informal, slang, often as chatting) To chat shit (to speak nonsense, to lie).
    Don't listen to me, I'm chatting.
* To exchange text or voice messages in real time through a computer network, as if having a face-to-face conversation.
    Do you want to chat online later?
** (by extension, Philippines) To send a text message via Facebook Messenger instead of via SMS.

##### Derived terms

* chatline (chat line)
* chat shit
* chat show
* chat up
* chat-up line
* live-chat

##### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

#### Noun

chat (countable and uncountable, plural chats)
* (countable, uncountable) Informal conversation.
    It'd be cool to meet up again soon and have a quick chat.
** 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:Reg liked a chat about old times and we used to go and have a chinwag in the pub.
* (countable, uncountable) An exchange of text or voice messages in real time through a computer network, resembling a face-to-face conversation.
    Internet Relay Chat
* (Internet, uncountable, with or without "the") A chat room, especially (in later use) one accompanying a videoconference or live stream.
    "Type yes in (the) chat if you can hear me."
** 1997, Meg Booker, The Insider's Guide to America Online, page 256:While there are chats for various interest groups (games, Internet, sports), you can also […]
** (metonymically, originally video games) The entirety of users, viewed collectively, in a chat room, especially the chat room accompanying a live stream.
    The chat just made a joke about my poor skillz.
    "Chat, should I pick up this sword before heading out?"
*** 2024 September 11, Fatima Payman, 00:48 from the start, in Skibidi Senator Payman + 100,000 aura‎ (video), archived from the original on September 12, 2024:Chat, is this prime minister serious?
** (by extension, nonstandard, humorous) Familiar term of address for users on social media other than a chat room, as in "guys."
* (countable) Any of various small Old World passerine birds in the muscicapid tribe Saxicolini or subfamily Saxicolinae that feed on insects.
* (countable) Any of several small Australian honeyeaters in the genus Epthianura.

##### Hyponyms

* bushchat
* chatshrike
* chat-tanager
* fallowchat
* furzechat
* palmchat
* robin-chat
* rock chat
* rufous bush chat
* stonechat
* whinchat
* yellow-breasted chat

##### Derived terms

* backchat, back-chat, back chat
* bechat
* chatathon
* chatbot
* chatbox
* chatfest
* chat fiction
* ChatGPT
* chatgroup, chat group
* chathead
* chatiquette
* chatless
* chatlog
* chatmate
* chatroom, chat-room
* chat site
* chatspace
* chatspeak
* chatteration
* chatterer
* chatterish
* chattily
* chattiness
* chatty
* chat-tyrant
* chatwood
* chitchat, chit-chat, chit chat
* cyberchat
* e-chat
* enter the chat
* F in the chat
* fireside chat
* group chat
* hot chat
* Internet Relay Chat
* leave the chat
* midchat
* Snapchat
* vidchat
* video chat
* webchat, web chat
* W in the chat

##### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Etymology 2

Compare chit (“small piece of paper”), and chad.

#### Noun

chat
* A small potato, such as is given to swine.
** 1978, Joan Thirsk, Edith Holt Whetham, H. P. R. Finberg, The Agrarian History of England and Wales: Volume 8, 1914-1939, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 5:Wheat and potatoes were traditionally cash crops, though they also provided tail corn for the poultry and chats for the pigs

#### References

* ↑ William Safire, The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time, p. 43, Simon and Schuster, 2007 →ISBN.

### Etymology 3

Unknown.

#### Noun

chat (plural chats)
* (mining, local use) Mining waste from lead and zinc mines.
** 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 441:Frank had been looking at calcite crystals for a while now [...] among the chats or zinc tailings of the Lake County mines, down here in the silver lodes of the Vita Madre and so forth.

##### Translations
### Etymology 4

From thieves' cant.

#### Alternative forms

* chatt

#### Noun

chat (plural chats)
* (British, Australia, New Zealand, World War I military slang) A louse (small, parasitic insect).
** 1977, Mary Emily Pearce, Apple Tree Lean Down, page 520:
    'Do officers have chats, then, the same as us?'
    'Not the same, no. The chats they got is bigger and better, with pips on their shoulders and Sam Browne belts.'
** 2007, How Can I Sleep when the Seagull Calls?, →ISBN, page 18:May a thousand chats from Belgium crawl under their fingers as they write.
** 2013, Graham Seal, The Soldiers' Press: Trench Journals in the First World War, →ISBN, page 149:Trench foot was a nasty and potentially fatal foot disease commonly caused by these conditions, in which chats or body lice were the bane of all.

### Etymology 5
#### Noun

chat (plural chats)
* Alternative form of chaat

### Anagrams

* ACTH, Cath, cath, cath., tach

## Antillean Creole
### Etymology

From French chat.

### Noun

chat
* cat

## Dutch
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /tʃɛt/
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: chat
* Rhymes: -ɛt

### Etymology 1

Borrowed from English chat.

#### Noun

chat m (plural chats, diminutive chatje n)
* chat (online conversation)
* chat (online conversation platform)

##### Derived terms

* chatgesprek
* chatten

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Verb

chat
* inflection of chatten:
** first/second/third-person singular present indicative
** imperative

### Anagrams

* acht

## Franco-Provençal
### Alternative forms

* chàt (ORB, narrow)

### Etymology

Inherited from Late Latin cattus.

### Noun

chat m (plural chats) (ORB, broad)
* male cat
    Coordinate term: chata f

### References

* chat in DicoFranPro: Dictionnaire Français/Francoprovençal – on dicofranpro.llm.umontreal.ca
* chat in Lo trèsor Arpitan – on arpitan.eu

## French
### Etymology 1

Inherited from Middle French chat, from Old French chat, from Late Latin cattus.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ʃa/
** Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -a
* Homophone: chats

#### Noun

chat m (plural chats, feminine chatte)
* cat (feline)
** 1910, Henry-D. Davray, B. Kozakiewicz (tr.), La Guerre dans les airs, translation of The War in the Air by H. G. Wells, page 335:Soudain, d’un seul élan, cela se précipita sur lui, avec un miaulement plaintif et la queue droite. C’était un jeune chat, menu et décharné, qui frottait sa tête contre les jambes de Bert, en ronronnant.It advanced suddenly upon him with a rush, with a little meawling cry and tail erect. It rubbed its head against him and purred. It was a tiny, skinny little kitten.
* (male) cat, tom, tomcat
** 1896, Paul Margueritte, “Une flaque”, in L’eau qui dort, Paris: Armand Colin et c$^{ie}$, […], section II, pages 102–103:— Est-ce un chat ou une chatte ? » demanda Jean. Sophie ne se prononça point, Alice devint rouge et dit en riant : « C’est un chat ! — En êtes-vous sûre ? demanda Jean. — Ah bien! fit Alice, pour sûr ! »"Is it a tomcat or a girl cat?" asked Jean. Sophie not having spoken, Alice turned red and said, laughing: "It's a tomcat!" "Are you sure?" asked Jean. "Of course," said Alice, "for sure!"
* tag, tig (children’s game)
** 2023 August, Arnaud de Montjoye, “En touriste à Auschwitz”, in Le Monde diplomatique, page 24:Alors, quand il repère, sur le Web, une scène croustillante montrant un groupe en train de se livrer à « une partie de chat, à poil, dans un camp de la mort », c’est comme un déclic.(please add an English translation of this quotation)

##### Derived terms

* à bon chat, bon rat
* à ne pas mettre un chat dehors
* absent le chat, les souris dansent
* acheter chat en poche
* appeler un chat un chat
* arbre à chat
* avoir d’autres chats à fouetter
* avoir un chat dans la gorge
* chat à neuf queues
* chat bai
* chat de gouttière
* chat de jungle
* chat de Margueritte
* chat des marais
* chat des sables
* chat domestique
* chat du désert
* chat du général Margueritte
* chat échaudé craint l’eau froide
* chat forestier
* chat forestier européen
* chat haret
* chat perché
* chat sauvage
* chat sauvage d’Europe
* chat sauvage européen
* chat sylvestre
* chat-huant
* chat-tigre
* chataire
* chatière
* chaton
* chatonner
* chatte
* chattemite
* chatterie
* comme chien et chat
* c’est le chat qui se mord la queue
* donner sa langue au chat
* il ne faut pas réveiller le chat qui dort
* il n’y a pas de quoi fouetter un chat
* il n’y a pas un chat
* jeu du chat et de la souris
* jouer au chat et à la souris
* la nuit, tous les chats sont gris
* langue de chat
* langue-de-chat
* le chat parti, les souris dansent
* les chats ne font pas des chiens
* les chiens ne font pas des chats
* mousse du chat
* pas de chat
* pied de chat
* quand le chat n’est pas là, les souris dansent
* syndrome du cri du chat

##### Related terms

* cataire

##### Descendants

* Louisiana Creole: sha

#### See also

* haret
* matou
* minet
* minou
* mistigri

### Etymology 2

Borrowed from English chat.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /tʃat/

#### Noun

chat m (plural chats)
* (Internet) chat (online discussion)
    Synonym: tchat

##### Derived terms

* chatter
* chater
* chatteur
* chateur

### Further reading

* “chat”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Haitian Creole
### Etymology

From French chat, chatte.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ʃat/

### Noun

chat
* cat
* (colloquial) thief
* pussy (genitals)

#### Derived terms

* chat boure
* chat kay
* chat mawon

## Hokkien

* For pronunciation and definitions of chat – see 節 (“knot; node; joint; etc.”). (This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 節).
* For pronunciation and definitions of chat – see 紮 (“to tie; to bind; bundle; etc.”). (This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 紮).
* For pronunciation and definitions of chat – see 匝. (This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 匝).
* For pronunciation and definitions of chat – see 扎 (“to stab; to prick; to puncture; etc.”). (This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 扎).
* For pronunciation and definitions of chat – see 札 (“letter; note; correspondence; etc.”). (This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 札).
* For pronunciation and definitions of chat – see 砸 (“to crush; to smash; to bash; to smash; etc.”). (This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 砸).

## Iban
### Etymology

From Hokkien 漆 (chhat).

### Noun

chat
* paint (substance)

## Irish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /xat̪ˠ/

### Noun

chat m
* Lenited form of cat.

## Italian
### Etymology 1

Unadapted borrowing from English chat.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈt͡ʃat/
* Rhymes: -at
* Hyphenation: chàt

#### Noun

chat f (invariable)
* chat (informal conversation via computer)

##### Derived terms

* chattare

##### See also

* chiacchierata

### Etymology 2

From Somali [Term?].

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈkat/
* Rhymes: -at
* Hyphenation: chàt

#### Noun

chat m (invariable)
* chat (leaf chewed by people in North Africa and the Middle East)
    Synonym: khat

## Jamaican Creole
### Etymology

Derived from English chat.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /t͡ʃat/

### Verb

chat
* to talk about, to discuss
    Synonym: taak
** 2012, Di Jamiekan Nyuu Testiment, Edinburgh: DJB, published 2012, →ISBN, Luuk 24:14:Dem did a chat bout evriting wa apm.They talked about everything that happened.
** 2012, Di Jamiekan Nyuu Testiment, Edinburgh: DJB, published 2012, →ISBN, 3 Jan 1:14:Mi suun kom luk fi yu, so wi kyan sidong an chat.I hope to see you soon and talk face to face.

## Middle French
### Etymology

From Old French chat, from Late Latin cattus.

### Noun

chat m (plural chats or chatz, feminine singular chatte, feminine plural chattes)
* cat (animal)

#### Descendants

* French: chat

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Alternative forms

* chatt

### Etymology

Borrowed from English chat.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /t͡ʃætː/

### Noun

chat m (definite singular chaten, indefinite plural chatar, definite plural chatane)
* (Internet) a chat

### References

* “chat” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

## Old French
### Alternative forms

* cat, kat (Picardy, Anglo-Norman)

### Etymology

From Late Latin cattus.

### Pronunciation

* (classical) IPA: /ˈt͡ʃat/, (northern) /ˈkat/

### Noun

chat oblique singular, m (oblique plural chaz or chatz, nominative singular chaz or chatz, nominative plural chat)
* cat (animal)

#### Related terms

* chate

#### Descendants

* Bourguignon: chait
* Champenois: chait (Troyen), tait (Rémois)
* Franc-Comtois: tchait
* Lorrain: tchat
* Middle French: chat
** French: chat
* Norman: cat
* Picard: cat
* Poitevin-Saintongeais: chat
* Walloon: tchet

## Polish
### Etymology 1

Unadapted borrowing from English chat.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈt͡ʂat/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -at
* Syllabification: chat
* Homophones: czad, Czad, czat

#### Noun

chat m inan (related adjective chatowy)
* (Internet) Alternative spelling of czat

##### Derived terms

* chatować impf

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈxat/
* Rhymes: -at
* Syllabification: chat

#### Noun

chat f
* genitive plural of chata

### Further reading

* chat in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
* chat in Polish dictionaries at PWN

## Portuguese
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English chat.

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈʃa.t͡ʃi/, /ˈʃɛ.t͡ʃi/
* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈʃa.t͡ʃi/, /ˈʃɛ.t͡ʃi/
** (Southern Brazil) IPA: /ˈʃa.te/, /ˈʃɛ.te/
* (Portugal) IPA: /ˈʃa.tɨ/, /ˈʃɛ.tɨ/
* (Portugal) IPA: /ˈʃa.tɨ/, /ˈʃɛ.tɨ/
** (Northern Portugal) IPA: /ˈt͡ʃa.tɨ/, /ˈt͡ʃɛ.tɨ/

### Noun

chat m (plural chats)
* (Internet) chat room
    Synonym: (chiefly Brazil) bate-papo

### Further reading

* “chat”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025

## Romanian
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English chat.

### Noun

chat n (uncountable)
* chat (online)

#### Declension
## Spanish
### Etymology

Borrowed from English chat.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈt͡ʃat/ [ˈt͡ʃat̪]
* Rhymes: -at
* Syllabification: chat

### Noun

chat m (plural chats)
* chat (exchange of text or voice messages in real time through a computer network)
* chat, chat room

#### Derived terms

* chatear
* sala de chat

### Further reading

* “chat”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

## Tagalog
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English chat.

### Pronunciation

* (Standard Tagalog) IPA: /ˈt͡ʃat/ [ˈt͡ʃat̪̚]
** IPA: (no yod coalescence) /ˈtsat/ [ˈt͡sat̪̚]
* Rhymes: -at
* Syllabification: chat

### Noun

chat (Baybayin spelling ᜆ᜔ᜐᜆ᜔) (Internet)
* chat (exchange of text or voice messages in real time through a computer network)

#### Derived terms

* ichat
* kachat
* makipagchat
* pakikipagchat

#### See also

* huntahan

### Further reading

* “chat”, in KWF Diksiyonaryo ng Wikang Filipino, Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, 2024
* “chat”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018

## Turkish
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English chat.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /tʃet/

### Noun

chat (definite accusative chati, plural chatler)
* chat (exchange of text or voice messages in real time through a computer network)
* chat room

#### Derived terms

* chatleşmek