kitten

English

Etymology

From Middle English kitoun, kytton, kyton, keton (“kitten”). 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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɪtən/

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

• 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).
   • 1752 January, The London Magazine, and Monthly Chronologer, page 243&244:

     It was supposed to have happened thus: the cat had young kittens, and frequently carried them mice, and other animals its prey, and among the rest a young rat: the kittens, not being hungry, played with it, and when the cat came to give suck to the kittens, the rat likewise sucked her.

   • 1844, The Kitten, the Religious Tract Society, page 1 & 2:

     To the sounds, however, I paid no attention at first as I was much interested in the subject upon which I was writing; but at length my som Richard burst into my study, exclaiming that the kitten had climbed up to the top of a young ash tree, and could not get down again.

   • 2011 December 14, Steven Morris, “Devon woman jailed for 168 days for killing kitten in microwave”, in Guardian‎:

     Jailing her on Wednesday, magistrate Liz Clyne told Robins: "You have shown little remorse either for the death of the kitten or the trauma to your former friend Sarah Knutton." She was also banned from keeping animals for 10 years.

2. A young rabbit, rat, hedgehog, squirrel, fox, beaver, badger, etc.
   • 1906, Joseph Henry Taylor, Beavers, Their Ways, and Other Sketches, page 49:

     The first move at beaver raising in North Dakota had its starting in the fall of 1874, when a kitten beaver was taken out of Mandan Lake by the writer and given to a little Indian girl who then lived with her guardians at Pretty Point near the present village of Sanger, Oliver county.

   • 2009, Kathryn Walker, See How Rabbits Grow, publ. by PowerKiDS press (The Rosen Publishing Group Inc.), page 10.

     Rabbit babies are called kittens or kits. The mother prepares a cosy nest for her kittens.

3. A moth of the genus Furcula.
   • 1959, Odonata reprints: J. G. Needham collection, volume 3, page 657:

     Two of these formed cocoons in a manner I have not seen before. They were supplied when full-grown with plenty of rotten willow wood, which I have always found a most suitable material for insects using bark or old wood in forming cocoons such as the kittens, Apatele alni, etc., and most made the usual cycle of cocoons on it.

4. (colloquial) A term of endearment, especially for a woman.
   • 1995, Duckman, "America the Beautiful" (season 2, episode 5):

     Speak only when spoken to, kitten.

Synonyms

• (young cat): catling (archaic), kit, kitling (archaic), kitty, kitty cat

Derived terms

Translations

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, Encyclopedia 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.'

Translations

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• tektin

Dutch

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English kitten.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɪtən/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: kit‧ten
• Rhymes: -ɪtən

Noun

kitten m (plural kittens, diminutive kittentje n)

1. a young cat; kitten
   • 2015, Joubert Pignon, "Kittens", in Paul van der Steen (ed.), Negenenhalf leven. Nieuwe en klassieke kattenverhalen, Xander Uitgevers B.V. (publ.).

     Telkens wanneer we in een huis kwamen wonen, zei ik tegen mijn vriendin dat dit geen huis voor kittens was, maar dat we ooit een huis zouden hebben dat geschikt is voor kittens. Ik hoopte dat we nooit in een huis zouden wonen dat geschikt is voor kittens.

     Each time when we began living in a house, I told my girlfriend that this was not a house for kittens, but that we would have a house one day that is appropriate for kittens. I hoped that we would never live in a house that is appropriate for kittens.

Synonyms

• (young cat): kattenjong

Derived terms

• ritten

Etymology 2

From kit (“sealant”) +‎ -en.

Verb

kitten

1. (transitive) to apply sealant to
   • 1996, dr. A.M. Soeterboek & drs. L.F. Stapper, Het geneesmiddel en zijn toepassing, Bohn Stafleu van Loghum (publ., 9th ed.), page 21.

     Granulaten zijn poeders die tot kleine brokjes aan elkaar gekit zijn.

     Granulates are powders that have been adjoined to one another with sealant.

Inflection

Derived terms

• afkitten
• dichtkitten

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

kitten

1. plural of kit

German

Etymology

Kitt +‎ -en

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):
• Hyphenation: kit‧ten

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

kitten (weak, third-person singular present kittet, past tense kittete, past participle gekittet, auxiliary haben)

1. to putty, to cement

Conjugation

Further reading

• “kitten” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “kitten” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “kitten” in Duden online