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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

kitten.

A young cat, especially before sexual maturity (reached at about seven months).

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈkɪtən̩/[kʰɪtn̩][kʰɪʔn̩]

  1. A young cat, especially before sexual maturity (reached at about seven months).

  2. A young rabbit, rat, hedgehog, squirrel, fox, beaver, badger, etc.

  3. A moth of the genus Furcula.

  4. A term of endearment, especially for a woman.

    colloquial

  5. A term of endearment, especially for a woman. A girlfriend.

    broadly · colloquial
Where this word comes from

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.

verb/ˈkɪtən̩/[kʰɪtn̩][kʰɪʔn̩]

  1. To give birth to kittens.

    intransitive · transitive
Where this word comes from

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.

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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.