kitty

Kitty, a kitten, is a pet form of kitten; kitty, a pool of money, is probably from kit, a set of supplies.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈkɪt.i/, US /ˈkɪt̬.i/^[4]

kitty¹ cat

Etymology

It is formed from kitten with the diminutive suffix -y,^[1][2][3] perhaps influenced by kitty, a girl or young woman (1500–20, in Dunbar), a pet form of the name Catherine.^[1][2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A kitten, used especially as a pet name: 1719.^[1][5][2]

Semantic evolution

Kitten itself goes back to Old French chitoun, a pet form of chat, cat.^[6] Kitty is also a local name for the wren (1825), as in kitty-wren.^[5]

Timeline

• 1500–20 – kitty, a girl.^[1][5]
• 1719 – a kitten.^[1][5]
• 1825 – a wren (dialect).^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A pet name for a cat or kitten.

kitty² fund

Etymology

It is probably formed from kit in the 19th-century sense of a container or a collection of necessary supplies (1833) and -y,^[1][3][2] though Etymonline suggests it may come instead from northern English slang kitty, a prison or lock-up (1825).^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Money pooled by players in a card game to pay expenses: 1884 in American English in Etymonline, 1887 in Barnhart.^[2][1]

Semantic evolution

The Standard Hoyle (1887) describes the kitty, or widow, as a percentage of chips taken during a poker game to pay for cards, light and attendance.^[2] The general sense, any shared pool or fund of money, appeared in American English in 1903, in Josiah Flynt.^[1] In bowls, the kitty is the jack.^[7]

Timeline

• 1884 – a pool in card games.^[2]
• 1887 – in The Standard Hoyle.^[2]
• 1903 – any shared fund.^[1]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A shared fund of money to which several people contribute.
2. The pool of stakes in certain card games, such as poker.
3. (bowls) The jack.

Related words

• kit
• kitten
• kittenish

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins