catnip.
Any of the about 250 species of flowering plant of the genus Nepeta, family Lamiaceae, certain of which are said to have medicinal qualities.
Meaning & usage
Any of the about 250 species of flowering plant of the genus Nepeta, family Lamiaceae, certain of which are said to have medicinal qualities.
Any of the about 250 species of flowering plant of the genus Nepeta, family Lamiaceae, certain of which are said to have medicinal qualities. Nepeta cataria and Nepeta grandiflora (and perhaps other species), which are well-known for causing an apparently harmless pheromone-based intoxication among certain cats.
Some cats go bonkers over catnip; others ignore it.
Something that causes excitement or interest.
Their outrage was catnip to the trolls who had deepfaked the video.
Where this word comes from
Compound of cat + nep, nip (“catnip”), from Middle English nep, from Old English nepte, from Proto-West Germanic *nepetā, from Latin nepeta (“catnip”). Compare earlier catmint (“catnip”), from Middle English catt mynte, which very likely existed in Old English (as *cattes minte) as well.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.