gotcha

English

Alternative forms

• gotchya

Etymology 1

Written form of a reduction of got you. got +‎ -cha

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

  Rhymes: -ɒtʃə

Contraction

gotcha

1. (colloquial) Got you; have you; as in capture or apprehend.

   I gotcha now, ya little twerp.

2. (colloquial) Understand; comprehend.

   Yeah, I gotcha. Good thinkin'!

3. (colloquial) Got you covered, got your back; when you have an advantage or responsibility over someone.

   Gotcha! Go on in...

4. (colloquial) Got you back; as in after causing some form of retaliation or revenge against someone.

   Gotcha! And don't ever do that to me again.

5. (colloquial) Got you by surprise; Exclamation indicating a successful trick or prank.

   Gotcha! They never notice the whoopie cushion!

6. (colloquial) Got you by surprise; as in engineering or computer programming; typically an unintended consequence or problem caused by a small variation in areas such as command syntax, function definition, results application.

Translations

gotcha

Czech: mám tě French: j't'ai eu

German: hab dich Italian: ti ho preso (it) Persian: گیرت آوردم (fa) Polish: mam cię (pl) Portuguese: te peguei (pt) Spanish: te tengo (es)

• Telugu: ardam ayyindi

Related terms

• getcha

Etymology 2

Direct acquisition of gotcha, the contraction of got you.

Noun

gotcha (plural gotchas)

1. (colloquial) A potential problem or source of trouble.

   Review the work thoroughly and make sure there are no gotchas.

Derived terms

• game of gotcha

See also

• gotta
• letcha
• letchya