kitten

See also: Kitten

English

A kitten.

Etymology

From Middle English kitoun, kiton, kyton (“kitten”), diminutive of cat (“cat”), equivalent to cat +‎ -en. The first element is probably from Middle English kiteling (“kitten, kit”), Old Norse ketlingr (“kitten”), or possibly Anglo-Norman *kiton or Old French chiton, diminutive of cat, chat (“cat”), from Late Latin cattus. Compare Low German kitten (“kitten”). More at kitling, cat, and -en.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɪtən/

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

• IPA^(key): [ˈkɪ.ʔn̩]

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪtən
• Hyphenation: kit‧ten

Noun

kitten (plural kittens)

1. A young cat, especially before sexual maturity (reached at about seven months).
2. A young rabbit, rat, hedgehog, squirrel, fox, beaver, badger, etc.

Synonyms

• (young cat): kitty, kitty cat

Derived terms

• have kittens
• kit
• kitten heel
• kittenish
• kitty

 

Translations

a young cat

• Afrikaans: katjie, katjies pl
• Arabic: هُرَيْرَة f (hurayra)
• Armenian: կատվի ձագ (katvi jag), կատվաձագ (hy) (katvajag)
• Basque: katakume (eu)
• Belarusian: кацяня́ n (kacjanjá)
• Breton: kazhig (br) m
• Bulgarian: котенце n (kotence)
• Burmese: ကြောင်ကလေး (my) (kraungka.le:)
• Catalan: moixet m, moixeta f, gatet (ca) m, gateta f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 小貓／小猫 (zh) (xiǎomāo), 小猫 (zh) (xiǎomāo)

• Cornish: kathik m
• Czech: kotě (cs) n
• Danish: killing (da) c
• Dutch: katje (nl) n, kitten (nl) m, poesje (nl) n
• Esperanto: (♂♀) katido (eo), (♂) virkatido (eo), (♀) katidino (eo)
• Estonian: kassipoeg (et)
• Finnish: kissanpentu (fi)
• French: chaton (fr) m
• Georgian: კნუტი (ḳnuṭi), ცინდალი (cindali)
• German: Kätzchen (de) n, Kätzlein n, Katzenbaby (de) n, (Austrian, South German) Katzerl n, (Swiss) Kätzli n, Katzenjunges (de) n, Katzenwelpe m
• Greek: γατάκι (el) n (gatáki)
• Hebrew: חֲתַלְתּוּל (he) m (khataltúl)
• Hungarian: kismacska, kiscica (hu), cica (hu)
• Icelandic: kettlingur (is) m
• Interlingua: catton
• Interlingue:
• Irish: piscín m, puisín (ga) m
• Italian: gattino (it) m, gattina (it) f, micetto m, micetta f
• Japanese: 子猫 (こねこ, koneko)
• Khmer: កូនឆ្មា (koun chmaa)
• Korean: 나비 (ko) (nabi) 자묘 (jamyo) 아깽이 (akkaeng'i)
• Latgalian: kačāns m, kačalāns m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: please add this translation if you can
• Latvian: kaķēns (lv) m
• Lithuanian: kačiukas m
• Luxembourgish: Kätzchen f
• Macedonian: маче n (mače)
• Malay: anak kucing
• Maltese: ferħ m, ferħa f, mejxu m, mejxa f
• Manx: pishanagh m, pishin m
• Mi'kmaq: gajuewji'j anim, gajue'wji'j anim
• Montagnais: minushiss
• Navajo: mósí yázhí
• Norman: caton m
• Norwegian: kattunge (no) m
• Novial: (♂♀) , (♂♀) , (♂) , (♂) , (♀) , (♀)
• Polish: kocię (pl) n, kotek (pl) m, kociak (pl) m
• Portuguese: gatinho (pt) m, gatinha (pt) f
• Romanian: pisoi (ro) m, pisicuță (ro) f, pisic (ro) m
• Russian: котёнок (ru) m (kotjónok)
• Scottish Gaelic: piseag f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: маче n

  Roman: mače (sh) n

• Slovak: mača n, mačiatko n, mačička f, kocúrik m
• Slovene: mucek m, mucka f
• Spanish: gatito (es) m, minino (es) m, gatita (es) f
• Swedish: kattunge (sv) c, (dialectal) källing (sv) c
• Tagalog: kuting (tl)
• Thai: ลูกแมว (lûuk-mɛɛo)
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} kedi yavrusu , kedicik, kunu, enik (tr), göcen (tr)
• Ukrainian: кошеня́ n (košenjá)
• Vietnamese: mèo con, miu (vi), miu con
• Volapük: (♂♀) katül, (♂) hikatül, (♀) jikatül
• Welsh: cath fach (cy) f

a young rabbit, rat, hedgehog, squirrel, fox, badger, etc.

• Dutch: lamprei (nl) (of a rabbit)
• French: lapereau (fr) m (rabbit), raton (fr) m (rat), renardeau (fr) m (fox)
• German: Kaninchenjunges n (rabbit), Rattenjunges n (rat), Igelbaby n (hedgehog), Igeljunges n (hedgehog), junges Eichhörnchen n (squirrel), Fuchsjunges n (fox), Dachsjunges n (badger), Luchsjunges n (lynx)
• Hungarian: kölyök (hu)
• Macedonian: зајче n (zajče) (rabbit), стаорче n (staorče) (rat), еже n (eže) (hedgehog), вервериче n (ververiče) (squirrel), лисиче n (lisiče) (fox), јазовче n (jazovče)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: крольчо́нок (ru) m (krolʹčónok) (of a rabbit), крысёнок (ru) m (krysjónok) (of a rat), ежо́нок (ru) m (ježónok) (of a hedgehog), бельчо́нок (ru) m (belʹčónok) (of a squirrel), барсучо́нок (ru) m (barsučónok) (of a badger), лисёнок (ru) m (lisjónok) (of a fox), зайчо́нок (ru) m (zajčónok) (of a hare)
• Scottish Gaelic: isean m (rabbit)
• Slovak: zajačik m, zajko m
• Volapük: (♂♀ rabbit) kroligül, (♂ rabbit) hikroligül, (♀ rabbit) jikroligül, (♂♀ rat) ratül, (♂ rat) hiratül, (♀ rat) jiratül, (♂♀ hedgehog) lüstridül, (♂ hedgehog) hilüstridül, (♀ hedgehog) jilüstridül, (♂♀ squirrel) yatül, (♂ squirrel) hiyatül, (♀ squirrel) jiyatül, (♂♀ fox) renarül, (♂ fox) hirenarül, (♀ fox) jirenarül, (♂♀ badger) dafül, (♂ badger) hidafül, (♀ badger) jidafül

Verb

kitten (third-person singular simple present kittens, present participle kittening, simple past and past participle kittened)

1. To give birth to kittens.
   • 2003, Cora Linn Daniels, ‎C. M. Stevans, Encyclopfdia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World:

     A cat about to kitten, must not be spoken of by its name, but called a witch. (Madagascar.)

   • 2016, Kerry Greenwood, Murder and Mendelssohn, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 319:

     'Princess the Lady Regina of Alphington is about to kitten. I must be there to support her.'

Further reading

• kitten on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Category:Kittens on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• tektin

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Dutch

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English kitten.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɪtən/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪtən
• Hyphenation: kit‧ten

Noun

kitten m (plural kittens, diminutive kittentje n)

1. a young cat; kitten

Synonyms

• (young cat): kattenjong

Etymology 2

From kit (“sealant”).

Verb

kitten

1. to apply sealant to

Inflection

Conjugation of kitten (weak)
infinitive	kitten
past singular	kitte
past participle	gekit
infinitive	kitten
gerund	kitten n
	present tense	past tense
1st person singular	kit	kitte
2nd person sing. (jij)	kit	kitte
2nd person sing. (u)	kit	kitte
2nd person sing. (gij)	kit	kitte
3rd person singular	kit	kitte
plural	kitten	kitten
subjunctive sing.1	kitte	kitte
subjunctive plur.1	kitten	kitten
imperative sing.	kit
imperative plur.1	kit
participles	kittend	gekit
1) Archaic.

Derived terms

• afkitten
• dichtkitten

Etymology 3

Noun

kitten

1. (deprecated template usage) Plural form of kit

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German

Etymology

Kitt +‎ -en

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈkɪtn̩]
• Hyphenation: kit‧ten

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

1. to putty, to cement

Further reading

• “kitten” in Duden online