kitten
Syllables: kit·ten/ˈkɪtən̩/
kitten noun: a young cat, especially before sexual maturity (reached at about seven months).
Noun
kitten (plural kittens)
- A young cat, especially before sexual maturity (reached at about seven months).
- 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.1752 January, The London Magazine, and Monthly Chronologer, page 243&244
- 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.1844, The Kitten, the Religious Tract Society, page 1 & 2
- A young rabbit, rat, hedgehog, squirrel, fox, beaver, badger, etc.
- 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.1906, Joseph Henry Taylor, Beavers, Their Ways, and Other Sketches, page 49
- Rabbit babies are called kittens or kits. The mother prepares a cosy nest for her kittens.2009, Kathryn Walker, See How Rabbits Grow, publ. by PowerKiDS press (The Rosen Publishing Group Inc.), page 10.
- A moth of the genus Furcula.
- 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...1959, Odonata reprints: J. G. Needham collection, volume 3, page 657
- A term of endearment, especially for a woman.
- Speak only when spoken to, kitten.1995, Duckman, "America the Beautiful" (season 2, episode 5)
- A girlfriend.
Verb
kitten (third-person singular simple present kittens, present participle kittening, simple past and past participle kittened)
- To give birth to kittens.
- A cat about to kitten, must not be spoken of by its name, but called a witch. (Madagascar.)2003, Cora Linn Daniels, C. M. Stevans, Encyclopedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World
- 'Princess the Lady Regina of Alphington is about to kitten. I must be there to support her.'2016, Kerry Greenwood, Murder and Mendelssohn, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 319
kitten meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
kitten in Hindi
- a young cat
- बिलौटा bilauṭā
kitten in Tamil
- a young cat
- பூனைக்குட்டி pūṉaikkuṭṭi
kitten in Marathi
- मांजरीच्या पिल्लाला, मांजरीच्या पिल्लेला
kitten in Urdu
- بلی کا بچہ, چھوٹی بلی, چلبلی لڑکی
More languagesFewer languages
- kitten in Bengali
- বিড়ালছানা biṛalchana
- kitten in Telugu
- పిల్లిపిల్ల pillipilla, పిల్లికూన pillikūna
- kitten in Malayalam
- പൂച്ചക്കുട്ടി, മറ്റു ചെറു സസ്തനികളുടെ കുഞ്ഞ്, കുസൃതിപ്പെൺകുട്ടി
- kitten in Kannada
- ಬೆಕ್ಕಿನಮರಿ, ಕೊತ್ತಿಮರಿ
- kitten in Punjabi
- ਬਲੂੰਗਾ balūṅgā, ਬਲੂੰਗੜਾ balūṅgṛā
- kitten in Gujarati
- બિલાડીનું બચ્ચું, બિલાડીના બચ્ચાને
- kitten in Sanskrit
- बिदालिका bidālikā
- kitten in Tagalog
- kuting
- kitten in Arabic
- قُطَيْط quṭayṭ, قُطَيْطَة quṭayṭa, هُرَيْر hurayr, هُرَيْرَة hurayra
- kitten in Malay
- anak kucing
- kitten in Thai
- ลูกแมว lûuk-mɛɛo
- kitten in Vietnamese
- mèo con, miu, miu con
- kitten in Myanmar
- ကြောင်ကလေး kraungka.le:
Examples of kitten in a sentence
- You're going to think I'm plum crazy for this, but I want to adopt all seven kittens.
- We’re having our cat spayed as we don’t want her having kittens.
- Your mum will have kittens when she sees what you've done to your hair!
Synonyms of kitten
Forms of kitten
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | kittens |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | kittens |
| present participle | kittening |
| past participle | kittened |
| past | kittened |
Origin of kitten
From Middle English kitoun, kytton, kyton, keton (“kitten”), of obscure origin. 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.
Words formed from kitten
- bobkitten
- cat and kitten sneaking
- Discord kitten
- dust kitten
- e-kitten
- have kittens
- kit
- kittenball
- kittendom
- kitten factory
- kitten farm
- kittenfishing
- kitten-hearted
- kitten heel
- kittenhood
- kittenish
- kittenless
- kittenlike
- kitten mill
- kittenness
- kittenship
- kitteny
- kitty
- Pallas' kitten
- playful as a kitten
- safe as a kitten
- safe as a kitten in a basket
- safe as a kitten in a box
- sallow kitten
- Schrodinger kitten
- Schrödinger kitten
- Schrödinger's kitten
- Schrodinger's kitten
- Schroedinger kitten
- Schroedinger's kitten
- sex kitten
- smitten kitten
- squitten
- werekitten
Phrases with kitten
Questions about kitten
- What does kitten mean?
- Kitten means a young cat, especially before sexual maturity (reached at about seven months).
- What is kitten in Hindi?
- Kitten in Hindi is बिलौटा (bilauṭā). See Kitten meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is kitten?
- Kitten can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce kitten?
- Kitten is pronounced /ˈkɪtən̩/.
- What is the plural of kitten?
- The plural of kitten is kittens.
Words near kitten in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: kitten (page history and authors); kitten (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); kitten (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); పిల్లికూన (Telugu) (page history and authors); kitten (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); kitten (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); kitten (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-kitten.ogg, en-us-kitten.ogg.
Cite this entry: “kitten.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kitten. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.