Word.ws English Dictionary

cat-nip

cat-nip is the alternative form of catnip.

Meaning of catnip

Noun

catnip (countable and uncountable, plural catnips)

  1. Any of the about 250 species of flowering plant of the genus Nepeta, family Lamiaceae, certain of which are said to have medicinal qualities.
    • Heavy mulching should help with winter survival of hardy, fragrant leaved perennials like lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), tansy (Tanacetum vulgare), catnip (Nepeta mussini), sage (Salvia officinalis), mint, oregano (Origanum vulgare) and thyme (Thymus species).1991 August 4, Linda Yang, “Garden Q. & A.”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 25 May 2015
    Synonyms:
    catmint, catwort
    1. Nepeta cataria and Nepeta grandiflora (and perhaps other species), which are well-known for causing an apparently harmless pheromone-based intoxication among certain cats.
      • Some cats go bonkers over catnip; others ignore it.
  2. (figuratively) Something that causes excitement or interest.
    • Near-synonym: crack
    Synonyms:
    crack

Forms of cat-nip

pluralcat-nips

Questions about cat-nip

What is cat-nip the alternative form of?
Cat-nip is the alternative form of catnip.

Words near cat-nip in the dictionary

  1. cat-napped
  2. cat-napper
  3. cat-nappers
  4. cat-napping
  5. cat-naps
  6. cat-nip
  7. cat-nips
  8. cat-o'-nine
  9. cat-o'-nine-tails
  10. cat-o-nine
  11. cat-o-nines

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cat-nip (page history and authors); catnip (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “cat-nip.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cat-nip. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.