kitten
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: From Middle English kitoun, kytton, kyton, keton (“kitten”), of obscure origin. Seemingly from, and usually explained as being from, unattested Anglo-Norman *kitoun, *ketun (compare Old French chitoun, cheton, chaton (“kitten”), diminutive of cat, chat (“cat”)); whence Modern French chaton (“kitten”). Similar words of Germanic origin may have reinforced this word; compare English kitling (“kit, kitten”), Low German Kitten (“kitten”), Icelandic kettlingur (“kitten”), Middle English chitte ("whelp, pup", see chit). The idea that kitoun, rather than being of Anglo-Norman origin, was in fact a purely Germanic derivation from one of these words is etymologically problematic, but cannot be definitively ruled out.
Inflected forms:
form: kittens
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: kittens
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: kittening
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: kittened
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: kittened
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: A young cat, especially before sexual maturity (reached at about seven months).
pos: noun
examples: It was supposed to have happened thus: the cat had young kittens, and frequently carried them mice, and other animals its prey, and among the rest a young rat: the kittens, not being hungry, played with it, and when the cat came to give suck to the kittens, the rat likewise sucked her.
To the sounds, however, I paid no attention at first as I was much interested in the subject upon which I was writing; but at length my som Richard burst into my study, exclaiming that the kitten had climbed up to the top of a young ash tree, and could not get down again.
Jailing her on Wednesday, magistrate Liz Clyne told Robins: "You have shown little remorse either for the death of the kitten or the trauma to your former friend Sarah Knutton." She was also banned from keeping animals for 10 years.
gloss: A young rabbit, rat, hedgehog, squirrel, fox, beaver, badger, etc.
pos: noun
examples: The first move at beaver raising in North Dakota had its starting in the fall of 1874, when a kitten beaver was taken out of Mandan Lake by the writer and given to a little Indian girl who then lived with her guardians at Pretty Point near the present village of Sanger, Oliver county.
2009, Kathryn Walker, See How Rabbits Grow, publ. by PowerKiDS press (The Rosen Publishing Group Inc.), page 10.
Rabbit babies are called kittens or kits. The mother prepares a cosy nest for her kittens.
gloss: A moth of the genus Furcula.
pos: noun
examples: Two of these formed cocoons in a manner I have not seen before. They were supplied when full-grown with plenty of rotten willow wood, which I have always found a most suitable material for insects using bark or old wood in forming cocoons such as the kittens, Apatele alni, etc., and most made the usual cycle of cocoons on it.
gloss: A term of endearment, especially for a woman.
pos: noun
tags: colloquial
examples: Speak only when spoken to, kitten.
gloss: A term of endearment, especially for a woman.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
colloquial
gloss: To give birth to kittens.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
transitive
examples: A cat about to kitten, must not be spoken of by its name, but called a witch. (Madagascar.)
'Princess the Lady Regina of Alphington is about to kitten. I must be there to support her.'
Derived words: bobkitten
cat and kitten sneaking
Discord kitten
dust kitten
e-kitten
have kittens
kit
kittenball
kittendom
kitten factory
kitten farm
kitten-hearted
kitten heel
kittenhood
kittenish
kittenless
kittenlike
kitten mill
kittenness
kittenship
kitteny
kitty
Pallas' kitten
playful as a kitten
safe as a kitten
safe as a kitten in a basket
safe as a kitten in a box
sallow kitten
Schrodinger kitten
Schrödinger kitten
Schrodinger's kitten
Schrödinger's kitten
Schroedinger kitten
Schroedinger's kitten
sex kitten
smitten kitten
squitten
werekitten
Translations:
lang: French
word: chaton
lang: Hungarian
word: cica
lang: Yiddish
word: קעצעלע
roman: ketsele
lang: Yiddish
word: קאָטינקע
roman: kotinke