rat.
Any of the numerous members of several rodent families that usually have short limbs, a pointy snout, a long, hairless tail, and a body length greater than about 12 cm, or 5 inches.
Meaning & usage
Any of the numerous members of several rodent families that usually have short limbs, a pointy snout, a long, hairless tail, and a body length greater than about 12 cm, or 5 inches.
A medium-sized rodent belonging to the genus Rattus.
A person who is known for betrayal.
rat bastard
What a rat, leaving us stranded here!
An informant or snitch.
A scab: a worker who acts against trade union policies.
A person who routinely spends time at a particular location.
Our teenager has become a mall rat.
He loved hockey and was a devoted rink rat.
A wad of shed hair used as part of a hairstyle.
A roll of material used to puff out the hair, which is turned over it.
Vagina, vulva.
Get your rat out.
Ellipsis of muskrat.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English raat, rat, ratt, ratte, rotte, from Old English ræt, rætt, from Proto-West Germanic *ratt, from Proto-Germanic *rattaz, *rattō (“rat”), of uncertain origin, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₃d- (“to gnaw, scrape, scratch”). However, the rat may have been unknown in Northern Europe in antiquity, and the Proto-Germanic word may have referred to a different animal; see *rattaz for more. Attestation of this family of words begins in the 12th century. Cognates Cognate with North Frisian root (“rat”), Saterland Frisian Rotte (“rat”), West Frisian rôt (“rat”), Dutch rat, rot (“rat”), German Ratte (“rat”), Luxembourgish Rat (“rat”), Vilamovian rot, rott (“rat”), Yiddish ראַץ (rats, “rat”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål rotte (“rat”), Faroese and Icelandic rotta (“rat”), Norwegian Nynorsk rotta, rotte, røtte (“rat”), Swedish råtta (“rat”), Latin rattus, ratus (“rat”) (whence Asturian ratu (“mouse”), Catalan rata (“rat”), French rat (“rat”), Italian ratto (“rat”), Portuguese rato (“rat”), Spanish rata (“rat”), rato (“male rat”)); also Latin rōdō (“to bite, gnaw, nibble; to backbite, disparage, slander”), Sanskrit रदति (radati, “to scrape, scratch; to cut path, pave; to lead river into a channel; to bestow, convey”). Some of the Germanic cognates show considerable consonant variation, e.g. Middle Low German ratte, radde; Middle High German rate, ratte, ratze. The irregularity may be symptomatic of a late dispersal of the word, although Kroonen accounts for it with a Proto-Germanic stem *raþō nom., *ruttaz gen., showing both ablaut and a Kluge's law alternation, with the variation arising from varying remodellings in the descendants. Kroonen states that this requires a Proto-Indo-European etymon in final *t and is incompatible with the usual derivation from Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₃d- (“to scrape, scratch, gnaw”).
To hunt or kill rats.
To betray a political party, cause or principle; to betray someone, to desert a person or thing.
To work as a scab, going against trade union policies.
To backcomb (hair).
To inform on someone; to betray someone to the police or authorities.
He ratted on his coworker.
He is going to rat us out!
Where this word comes from
From Middle English raat, rat, ratt, ratte, rotte, from Old English ræt, rætt, from Proto-West Germanic *ratt, from Proto-Germanic *rattaz, *rattō (“rat”), of uncertain origin, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₃d- (“to gnaw, scrape, scratch”). However, the rat may have been unknown in Northern Europe in antiquity, and the Proto-Germanic word may have referred to a different animal; see *rattaz for more. Attestation of this family of words begins in the 12th century. Cognates Cognate with North Frisian root (“rat”), Saterland Frisian Rotte (“rat”), West Frisian rôt (“rat”), Dutch rat, rot (“rat”), German Ratte (“rat”), Luxembourgish Rat (“rat”), Vilamovian rot, rott (“rat”), Yiddish ראַץ (rats, “rat”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål rotte (“rat”), Faroese and Icelandic rotta (“rat”), Norwegian Nynorsk rotta, rotte, røtte (“rat”), Swedish råtta (“rat”), Latin rattus, ratus (“rat”) (whence Asturian ratu (“mouse”), Catalan rata (“rat”), French rat (“rat”), Italian ratto (“rat”), Portuguese rato (“rat”), Spanish rata (“rat”), rato (“male rat”)); also Latin rōdō (“to bite, gnaw, nibble; to backbite, disparage, slander”), Sanskrit रदति (radati, “to scrape, scratch; to cut path, pave; to lead river into a channel; to bestow, convey”). Some of the Germanic cognates show considerable consonant variation, e.g. Middle Low German ratte, radde; Middle High German rate, ratte, ratze. The irregularity may be symptomatic of a late dispersal of the word, although Kroonen accounts for it with a Proto-Germanic stem *raþō nom., *ruttaz gen., showing both ablaut and a Kluge's law alternation, with the variation arising from varying remodellings in the descendants. Kroonen states that this requires a Proto-Indo-European etymon in final *t and is incompatible with the usual derivation from Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₃d- (“to scrape, scratch, gnaw”).
A scratch or a score.
A place in the sea with rapid currents and crags where a ship is likely to be torn apart in stormy weather.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English ratten, further etymology unknown. Compare Middle Low German retten (“to tear, tear up”), Middle High German ratzen (“to scratch; rasp; tear”). Could be related to write. See also rit.
To scratch or score.
He ratted a vertical line on his face with a pocket knife.
To tear, rip, rend.
Ratted to shreds.
Damn, drat, blast; used in oaths.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English ratten, further etymology unknown. Compare Middle Low German retten (“to tear, tear up”), Middle High German ratzen (“to scratch; rasp; tear”). Could be related to write. See also rit.
A ration.
To hack someone with a remote-access Trojan.
Where this word comes from
From remote-access Trojan.
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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.