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Organic vs Catty - What's the difference?

organic | catty |

As adjectives the difference between organic and catty

is that organic is (biology) pertaining to or derived from living organisms while catty is (informal|of a person or remark) with subtle hostility in an effort to hurt, annoy or upset, particularly among women.

As nouns the difference between organic and catty

is that organic is (chemistry) an organic compound while catty is a (unit of) weight used in china, generally standardized as half a kilogram.

organic

Alternative forms

* organick (obsolete)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (biology) pertaining to or derived from living organisms.
  • pertaining to an organ of the body of a living organism.
  • (chemistry) relating to the compounds of carbon, relating to natural products
  • of food or food products, grown in an environment free from artificial agrichemicals, and possibly certified by a regulatory body.
  • (sociology) describing a form of social solidarity theorized by Emile Durkheim that is characterized by voluntary engagements in complex interdepencies for mutual benefit (such as business agreements), rather than mechanical solidarity, which depends on ascribed relations between people (as in a family or tribe).
  • (military) Of a military unit or formation, or its elements, belonging to a permanent organization (in contrast to being temporarily attached).
  • * 1998 : Eyal Ben-Ari, Mastering Soldiers: Conflict, Emotions, and the Enemy in an Israeli Military Unit . Beghahn Books, p 29.
  • ''Socially, the term “organic ” unit implies a military force characterized by relatively high cohesion, overlapping primary groups and a certain sense of shared past.
  • * 1945 : U.S. War Department, Handbook on German Military Forces . LSU Press (1990). p 161.
  • Most types of German field divisions include an organic reconnaissance battalion, and the remainder have strong reconnaissance companies.
  • Instrumental; acting as instruments of nature or of art to a certain destined function or end.
  • * Milton
  • those organic arts which enable men to discourse and write perspicuously
  • (Internet, of search results) Generated according to the ranking algorithms of a search engine, as opposed to paid placement by advertisers.
  • * 2008 , Michael Masterson, MaryEllen Tribby, Changing the Channel: 12 Easy Ways to Make Millions for Your Business
  • According to a recent survey by Jupiter Research, 80 percent of Web users get information from organic search results.

    Coordinate terms

    * (chemistry) inorganic

    Derived terms

    * organic agriculture * organic chemistry * organic forestry * organic intellectual * organicness

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (chemistry) An organic compound
  • See also

    * inorganic

    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