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Catty vs Kitty - What's the difference?

catty | kitty |

As an adjective catty

is (informal|of a person or remark) with subtle hostility in an effort to hurt, annoy or upset, particularly among women.

As a noun catty

is a (unit of) weight used in china, generally standardized as half a kilogram.

As a proper noun kitty is

a diminutive of katherine and related female given names.

catty

English

Alternative forms

* cattie

Etymology 1

; in sense “hostility”, see (m).

Adjective

(er)
  • (informal, of a person or remark) With subtle hostility in an effort to hurt, annoy or upset, particularly among women.
  • (informal) Resembling or characteristic of a cat.
  • a catty smell
    Synonyms
    * (spiteful) bitchy (derogatory), cattish, malicious, nasty, snide, spiteful
    See also
    *

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) kati, from (etyl) languages, Mandarin:

    Noun

    (head)
  • A (unit of) weight used in China, generally standardized as half a kilogram.
  • * 2009 , Huaiyin Li, Village China Under Socialism and Reform: A Micro-History, 1948-2008 , Stanford University Press, ISBN 978-0-8047-5974-8, 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.
  • * 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 (publisher), page 124:
  • Transparent yellow pieces are the best; the price is from eight to fourteen dollars per catty , according to size and quality.
    See also
    * (Hong Kong units) chek , tsun , fan , picul , tael , mace , candareen , tsin , leung , kan , tam English terms with multiple etymologies

    kitty

    English

    Alternative forms

    * kittie (young cat)

    Noun

    (kitties)
  • A kitten or young cat.
  • (childish) A pet name for a cat.
  • A money pool, as for a card game, or for shared expenses.
  • (poker, slang) In a home game, a small, specified amount taken from each pot to pay the host's expenses.
  • (slang) Female genitals. (less vulgar)
  • (card games) A set of additional cards dealt face down in some games.
  • Synonyms

    * (money pool) pot

    See also

    * pussy