catty

See also: Catty

English

Etymology 1

From cat +‎ -y. Compare Dutch kattig, which also means “subtly hostile” and is formed the same way (kat + -ig); see also catfight.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈkæti/, (US) [ˈkʰæɾi]
Audio (Southern England); [-t-]: (file)
Rhymes: -æti
Homophones: caddie (Flapping), caddy (Flapping)

Adjective

catty (comparative cattier, superlative cattiest)(informal)

(literally) Resembling or characteristic of a cat.
Synonyms: catlike, catly, cattish, feline

catty eyes

I heard a catty shriek.
(by extension, of a person or remark) With subtle hostility in an effort to hurt, annoy, or upset (particularly in interactions between women).
Synonyms: bitchy (vulgar, derogatory), cattish, malicious, nasty, snide, spiteful
- 1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries:
  The fact is, Mr Carrados, Gertrude is a misfire. It was the surprise of her life (if I said "disappointment" you'd think me catty) when Mark married me, and she didn't set out to be pleasant to the interloper.
- 2025 August 14, Asha Michelle Wilson, “Anchor Ham Adventure” (7:51 from the start), in The Great North‎^[1], season 5, episode 19, spoken by Ham Tobin (Paul Rust):
  “So leave your umbrellas at home 'cause we're gonna be drier than my favorite varietal of white wine, pinot gris.” “Hmm. Interesting. According to my research, precipitation is a-coming.” “So Harry's wrong?” “I don't want to be a catty bitch, but kind of, yeah.” “Meow, Ham.”

Derived terms

Related terms

catfight

Translations

spiteful

Bulgarian: злобен (bg) (zloben)
Czech: zlomyslný (cs), škodolibý (cs), nepříjemný (cs)
Danish: sladrende
Dutch: kattig (nl)
Finnish: ilkeä (fi)
French: rosse (fr), rosserie (fr), méchant (fr)
German: zickig (de), boshaft (de), gehässig (de), stutenbissig (de)
Hungarian: sunyi (hu), alattomos (hu), rosszindulatú (hu)
Italian: malizioso (it)
Norwegian: spydig
Russian: зло́бный (ru) (zlóbnyj), озло́бленный (ru) (ozlóblennyj), злой (ru) (zloj)
Spanish: malicioso (es)
Swedish: spydig (sv)

resembling or characteristic of a cat

Czech: kočičí (cs)

Etymology 2

From Malay kati, from Tamil கட்டி (kaṭṭi).

Alternative forms

cattee, kati
katti, katty (both obsolete)

Noun

catty (plural catties or cattys)

A (unit of) weight used in China which is metricated in Mainland China as exactly 0.5 kg, and approximately 0.6 kg for other places.
- 1699, Captain William Dampier, A new voyage round the world, Volume 1:
  16 Mess, make a Tale, which here is 20 s. English, 5 Tale make a Bancal, a weight so called, and 20 Bancal make a Catty, another weight.
- 1847, Robert Montgomery Martin, China; Political, Commercial, and Social, volume 2, James Madden, page 124:
  Transparent yellow pieces are the best; the price is from eight to fourteen dollars per catty, according to size and quality.
- 1951, Wilbert E. Moore, “The Search for New Opportunities”, in Industrialization and Labor: Social Aspects of Economic Development‎^[2], New York: Russell & Russell, sourced from Sung-Ho Lin, Factory Workers in Tangku (Peiping: Social Research Department, China Foundation for the Promotion of Education and Culture, 1928), p. 33., published 1965, →LCCN, →OCLC, pages 85–86:
  In China, festivals are important occasions, when edibles and other gifts are presented and exchanged. In the few years of its existence, the factory has made it a practice to present at various festival times to each worker 10 dumplings, ½ catty of "mid-Autumn cake," ¼ catty of dried plums, ½ catty of sugar, [and] 10 cents for making "la-pa" porridge, a food to be taken on the eighth day of the last month in the year.
- 1971 October 21 [1971 October 11], “Hupeh Cotton Production”, in Daily Report: People's Republic of China, volume I, number 204, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, sourced from Wuhan Hupeh Provincial Service, translation of original in Mandarin, →ISSN, →OCLC, People's Republic of China: Central-South Region, page D 3:
  The 130,000 mou of cotton fields in (Pailichou) district of Chihchiang County have produced 17 million catties of cotton seed, and 2.5 million catties of ginned cotton have been sold to the state.
- 2009, Huaiyin Li, Village China Under Socialism and Reform: A Micro-History, 1948-2008, Stanford University Press, →ISBN, page 94:
  To limit team members' consumption, it issued food stamps to the villagers and allowed everyone to eat one catty of rice a day.

Translations

Chinese unit of weight

Chagatai: جینگ (jiŋ)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 斤 (gan¹)

Hakka: 斤 (kîn)

Hokkien: 斤 (zh-min-nan) (kin, kirn, kun)

Mandarin: 斤 (zh) (jīn)

Wu: 斤 (¹cin)
Indonesian: kati (id)
Japanese: 斤 (ja) (きん, kin)
Korean: 근(斤) (ko) (geun)
Malay: kati (ms)
Russian: ка́тти n (kátti), цзинь (ru) m (czinʹ)
Thai: มายน (maa yon)
Uyghur: جىڭ (jing)
Vietnamese: cân (vi) (斤 (vi))

Etymology 3

Noun

catty (plural catties)

(slang) A catapult.
- 2009, Sheldon Arensen, The Carjackers, page 43:
  “Give me your slingshot, and I'll let you have it back after school this afternoon,” she said firmly. […] I stuck the 'catty' into my back pocket and ran outside to meet the others.
- 2017, David Cooper, Christiaan Barnard: The Surgeon Who Dared:
  You could also keep a tennis ball and a frog, or a catapult and a frog, but not all three together. I know because I tried it. The frog got a bit squashed between the ball and the handle of the catty.