Ratte

See also: ratte and rätte

English

Noun

Ratte (plural Rattes)

1. Alternative form of ratte (“kind of potato”)

Anagrams

• Treat, atter, tater, teart, tetra, tetra-, treat

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German

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle High German ratte, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old High German ratta. There is still some uncertainty about the origin of the word and that of the animal itself, which was unknown to Europe in antiquity. Older etymological sources explain the Germanic words as borrowings from Romance. It is now widely accepted that this is not the case. The further etymology is unsettled. The word may go back to an unknown substrate language, or be formed from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning „to gnaw“ (compare Latin rōdere). The consonantism ratta in Old High German (instead of *razza), along with other hints, makes it likely that the former is borrowed from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old Saxon ratta. The dialectal German variant Ratz is probably an expressive derivative, though it could be an Old High German adaptation of the Old Saxon form. See English rat for more. Compare also (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Dutch rat, Swedish råtta, French rat.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʁatə/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -atə

Noun

Ratte f (genitive Ratte, plural Ratten, diminutive Rättchen n, female Rättin)

1. rat

Related terms

• Bisamratte
• Kanalratte
• Rattenschwanz
• Beutelratte
• rattig
• Rattenkönig

Further reading

• “Ratte” in Duden online