rat

See also: Rat, RAT, rất, rät, and råt

English

A brown rat, one of the many species of rat.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: răt, IPA(key): /ɹæt/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Audio (UK)(file)
  • Rhymes: -æt

Etymology 1

From Middle English rat, rotte, from Old English ræt, as though from Proto-Germanic *rattaz, *rattō (compare West Frisian rôt, Dutch rat); but the rat was unknown in Northern Europe in antiquity, so if the Proto-Germanic word is real it must have referred to a different animal. Attestation of this family of words begins in the 12th century.

Some of the Germanic cognates show consonant variation, e.g. Middle High German rate, radde, ratte, ratze. The irregularity may be symptomatic of a late dispersal of the word, in which case it would not be old. Kroonen (2011) rather accounts for it with a Proto-Germanic stem *raþō nom., *ruttaz gen., showing both ablaut and a Kluge's law alternation, with the variation arising from varying remodellings in the daughters. This requires a Proto-Indo-European etymon in final *t, and is hence incompatible with the usual derivation from Proto-Indo-European *reh₁d- (“to scrape”).

Noun

rat (plural rats)

  1. (zoology) A medium-sized rodent belonging to the genus Rattus.
    • 2013 May-June, Charles T. Ambrose, “Alzheimer’s Disease”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 200:
      Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems—surgical foam, a thermal gel depot, a microcapsule or biodegradable polymer beads.
  2. (informal) A term indiscriminately applied to numerous members of several rodent families (e.g. voles and mice) having bodies longer than about 12 cm, or 5 inches.
  3. (informal) A person who is known for betrayal; a scoundrel; a quisling.
    What a rat, leaving us stranded here!
  4. (informal) An informant or snitch.
  5. (slang) A person who routinely spends time at a particular location.
    Our teenager has become a mall rat.
    He loved hockey and was a devoted rink rat.
  6. Scab.
  7. (north-west London, slang) Vagina.
    Get your rat out.
  8. A wad of shed hair used as part of a hairstyle.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
See also

Verb

rat (third-person singular simple present rats, present participle ratting, simple past and past participle ratted)

  1. (usually with “on” or “out”) To betray someone and tell their secret to an authority or an enemy; to turn someone in, bewray.
    He ratted on his coworker.
    He is going to rat us out!
  2. (of a dog, etc.) To kill rats.
Synonyms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Etymology 2

From Middle English ratten, further etymology unknown. Compare Middle High German ratzen (“to scratch; rasp; tear”). Could be related to write. See also rit.

Noun

rat (plural rats)

  1. (regional) A scratch or a score.
  2. (nautical, regional) A place in the sea with rapid currents and crags where a ship is likely to be torn apart in stormy weather.

Verb

rat (third-person singular simple present rats, present participle ratting, simple past and past participle ratted)

  1. (regional) To scratch or score.
    He ratted a vertical line on his face with a pocket knife
    .
  2. (regional, rare, obsolete) To tear, rip, rend.
    Ratted to shreds.
Usage notes

The verb "rat" is rarely used in the second sense. In the sense of to tear, rip, rend, the form to-rat is more common. Compare German zerreißen (“to rip up, tear, rend”).

References

Anagrams

Catalan

Pronunciation

Noun

rat m (plural rats)

  1. rat

Synonyms

Danish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /rat/, [ˈʁɑd̥]
  • Homophone: ret

Noun

rat n (singular definite rattet, plural indefinite rat)

  1. wheel, steering wheel

Inflection

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch ratte.

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -ɑt
  • IPA(key): /rɑt/
  • Audio(file)
  • Homophone: rad

Noun

rat f (plural ratten, diminutive ratje n)

  1. rat

French

Etymology

From Middle French rat (“rat”), from Old French rat (“rat”), from Frankish *rato (“rat”); further origin uncertain. More at rat.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʁa/
  • audio(file)

Noun

rat m (plural rats)

  1. rat
  2. (informal) sweetheart
  3. scrooch

Further reading

Anagrams

Kalasha

Etymology

From Sanskrit रात्रि (rātri). Cognate with Hindi रात (rāt).

Noun

rat

  1. night

Middle Dutch

Etymology 1

From Old Dutch *rath, from Proto-Germanic *raþą, from Proto-Indo-European *Hret-.

Noun

rat n

  1. wheel
    Synonym: wiel
Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

Etymology 2

From Old Dutch *rath, from Proto-Germanic *raþaz, from Proto-Indo-European *Hret-.

Adjective

rat

  1. fast, quick
Inflection

This adjective needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

Further reading

  • “rat”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
  • “rat (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, 1929
  • “rat (III)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, 1929

Norman

Etymology

From Old French rat (“rat”).

Noun

rat m (plural rats)

  1. (Jersey, Guernsey) rat

Derived terms

Occitan

Noun

rat m (plural rats)

  1. (Rattus rattus)[1] black rat

Synonyms

Derived terms

References

  1. ↑ Gui Benoèt, "Las bèstias", 2008, Toulouse, IEO Edicions, 2008, →ISBN, p. 161

Old French

Etymology

Of Germanic origin. See rat for more.

Noun

rat m (oblique plural raz or ratz, nominative singular raz or ratz, nominative plural rat)

  1. rat (rodent)

Descendants

Romani

Etymology

From Sanskrit रक्त (rakta, “blood”). Compare dialectal Hindi रात (rāt) and Punjabi ਰੱਤ (ratt, “blood”).

Noun

rat m (plural rat)

  1. blood

Romansch

Etymology

From Frankish *rato (“rat”).

Noun

rat m (plural rats)

  1. (Surmiran) rat

Synonyms

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *ortь, from the o-grade of Proto-Indo-European *h₃er- (“to rise, to attack”), cognate to Ancient Greek ἔρις (éris, “quarrel, strife”), Sanskrit ऋति (ṛti, “assault”) and Proto-Germanic *ernustuz (“struggle, fight”)

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /rât/

Noun

rȁt m (Cyrillic spelling ра̏т)

  1. war
    Sȁmo idìoti mȉslē da rȁt r(j)ešáva pròblēme.‎
    Only idiots think that war solves problems.

Declension

Synonyms

Torres Strait Creole

Etymology

From English rat.

Noun

rat

  1. rat or mouse

Synonyms

Volapük

Etymology

Borrowed from English rat.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ɾat]

Noun

rat (plural rats)

  1. rat (rodent of the family Muridae)

Declension

Hypernyms

Hyponyms

Derived terms

See also

Westrobothnian

Noun

rat n

  1. garbage, waste, in forest lying twigs, rotten trees and stumps
    Hä ligg fullt vä rat å gval i skogjen
    The forest is full of rubbish and waste.
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