wildcat

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English wilde cat,^[2][3][4] formed from Middle English wilde (“wild”) + cat (“cat”);^[2][5][6] Dictionary.com compares Middle Low German wildkatte.^[4] The adjective is from Old English wilde, and the noun is from catt, which came from Late Latin cattus.^[5] Etymonline finds it as a surname from the late 12th century.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

An undomesticated cat, the European wildcat: about 1324, "hare and fox and wilde cattes" in a grant of forest keeping, Iche Edward Kynge.^[2] In 1340 the Ayenbite of Inwit contrasts the tame cat with the wylde cat.^[2] The OED's first record is from 1418, of the skins used as fur trim on a gown;^[7][2] Etymonline dates the word to the early 14th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From 1570, in Tusser, it was applied to a savage or spiteful person, especially a woman,^[7][5] and in the United States it was also used of a species of lynx.^[7][5] American English then made it a word for recklessness: "one who forms a rash project" is recorded from 1812.^[7][5] From 1838 the wildcat banks of the western states, virtually unregulated before the National Bank Act of 1863, issued notes that were nearly worthless, called wildcat money.^[8][3][5] From these the adjective spread to any unsound business or speculation,^[7][3] and by the 1880s, in Etymonline's dating, to anything sudden and unofficial.^[5] A wildcat was an exploratory oil well from 1877 and illicitly distilled whisky from 1887;^[7] the wildcat strike, a sudden unofficial strike, is recorded from 1937, and a wildcat alone could mean one by 1959.^[7] The verb, to drill experimental wells in unproved ground, dates from about 1903,^[3] and the driller is a wildcatter.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1324 – the wild cat of Europe.^[2] The OED's first record is from 1418.^[7]
• 1570 – a savage or spiteful person, especially a woman.^[7]
• 1812 – one who forms a rash project.^[7][5]
• 1838 – a wildcat bank and its worthless notes; adjective, financially unsound.^[8][3][5]
• 1877 – an exploratory oil well.^[7]
• 1887 – illicitly distilled whisky.^[7]
• c. 1903 – verb, to drill exploratory wells.^[3]
• 1937 – wildcat strike, a sudden unofficial strike.^[7]
• 1959 – a wildcat, short for a wildcat strike.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A wild cat (Felis silvestris) of Europe, Africa and Asia, like a large tabby with a bushy tail, thought to include the ancestor of the domestic cat.^{[3][9][10][6]}
2. Any of various other small wild cats, such as the lynx, or in North America the bobcat.^[3][9][7]
3. A fierce, hot-tempered person.^{[3][9][10][7]}
4. An exploratory oil well drilled where oil is not known to exist.^{[3][10][11][7]}
5. A risky or unsound business undertaking; in the 19th-century United States, a note issued by a wildcat bank.^{[11][7][8][3]}
6. A wildcat strike.^[7]

Adjective

1. Of a strike: sudden and unofficial.^[10][7]
2. Financially reckless or unsound: wildcat investment schemes.^[3][10][11]
3. Carried on outside standard or legitimate business practice.^[3]
4. Of an oil or gas well: drilled in ground not known to be productive.^[3]

Verb

1. To drill exploratory oil or gas wells in unproved ground.^[3][10]
2. To engage in wildcat ventures or speculation.^[3]

Word family

• wildcatter
• wildcat bank
• wildcat strike

Related words

• wild
• cat

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b c d e f Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers