chat
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /t͡ʃæt/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -æt
Etymology 1
Abbreviation of chatter. The bird sense refers to the sound of its call.
Verb
chat (third-person singular simple present chats, present participle chatting, simple past and past participle chatted)
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- To be engaged in informal conversation.
- She chatted with her friend in the cafe.
- I like to chat over a coffee with a friend.
- To talk more than a few words.
- I met my old friend in the street, so we chatted for a while.
- (transitive) To talk of; to discuss.
- They chatted politics for a while.
- 2014, Lenny Smith, Choices, page 43:
- We would get totally stoned and usually drunk too and chat a load of nonsense into the small hours.
- To exchange text or voice messages in real time through a computer network, as if having a face-to-face conversation.
- Do you want to chat online later?
Translations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
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Noun
chat (countable and uncountable, plural chats)
- (countable, uncountable) Informal conversation.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess:
- Reg liked a chat about old times and we used to go and have a chinwag in the pub.
- It'd be cool to meet up again soon and have a quick chat.
- A conversation to stop an argument or settle a situation.
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- An exchange of text or voice messages in real time through a computer network, resembling a face-to-face conversation.
- (Internet) A chat room.
- 1997, Meg Booker, The Insider's Guide to America Online (page 256)
- While there are chats for various interest groups (games, Internet, sports), you can also […]
- 1997, Meg Booker, The Insider's Guide to America Online (page 256)
- (metonymically, typically with definite article, video games) The entirety of users in a chat room or a single member thereof.
- The Chat just made a joke about my poor skillz.
- Any of various small Old World passerine birds in the muscicapid tribe Saxicolini or subfamily Saxicolinae that feed on insects.
- Any of several small Australian honeyeaters in the genus Epthianura.
Derived terms
- backchat (back-chat, back chat)
- chatbox
- chat group
- chatroom (chat-room)
- chat site
- chatteration
- chatterer
- chatterish
- chattily
- chattiness
- chatty
- chat-tyrant
- chitchat (chit-chat, chit chat)
- cyberchat
- e-chat
- fireside chat
- group chat
- hot chat
- robin-chat
- rufous bush chat
- stonechat
- video chat
- web chat
- whinchat
- yellow-breasted chat
Translations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
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References
- William Safire, The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time, p. 43, Simon and Schuster, 2007 →ISBN.
Etymology 3
Unknown.
Noun
chat (plural chats)
- (mining, local use) Mining waste from lead and zinc mines.
- 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage 2007, p. 441:
- Frank had been looking at calcite crystals for a while now [...] among the chats or zinc tailings of the Lake County mines, down here in the silver lodes of the Vita Madre and so forth.
- 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage 2007, p. 441:
Translations
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Etymology 4
From thieves' cant.
Alternative forms
Noun
chat (plural chats)
- (Britain, Australia, New Zealand, World War I military slang) A louse (small, parasitic insect).
- 1977, Mary Emily Pearce, Apple Tree Lean Down, page 520:
- 'Do officers have chats, then, the same as us?'
- 'Not the same, no. The chats they got is bigger and better, with pips on their shoulders and Sam Browne belts.'
- 2007, How Can I Sleep when the Seagull Calls?, →ISBN, page 18:
- May a thousand chats from Belgium crawl under their fingers as they write.
- 2013, Graham Seal, The Soldiers' Press: Trench Journals in the First World War, →ISBN, page 149:
- Trench foot was a nasty and potentially fatal foot disease commonly caused by these conditions, in which chats or body lice were the bane of all.
- 1977, Mary Emily Pearce, Apple Tree Lean Down, page 520:
Dutch
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /tʃɛt/
Audio (file) - Hyphenation: chat
- Rhymes: -ɛt
Noun
Derived terms
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Verb
chat
- first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of chatten
- imperative of chatten
French

Etymology 1
From Middle French chat, from Old French chat, from Late Latin cattus.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ʃa/
audio (file)
Noun
chat m (plural chats, feminine chatte)
- cat (feline)
- 1910, Henry-D. Davray & B. Kozakiewicz (tr.), La Guerre dans les airs, translation of The War in the Air by H. G. Wells, page 335:
- Soudain, d’un seul élan, cela se précipita sur lui, avec un miaulement plaintif et la queue droite. C’était un jeune chat, menu et décharné, qui frottait sa tête contre les jambes de Bert, en ronronnant.
- It advanced suddenly upon him with a rush, with a little meawling cry and tail erect. It rubbed its head against him and purred. It was a tiny, skinny little kitten.
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- (male) cat, tom, tomcat
- tag, tig (children’s game)
Derived terms
- à bon chat, bon rat
- absent le chat, les souris dansent
- acheter chat en poche
- à ne pas mettre un chat dehors
- appeler un chat un chat
- arbre à chat
- avoir d'autres chats à fouetter
- avoir un chat dans la gorge
- c'est le chat qui se mord la queue
- chataire
- chat à neuf queues
- chat bai
- chat de gouttière
- chat de jungle
- chat des marais
- chat domestique
- chat échaudé craint l'eau froide
- chat forestier
- chat forestier européen
- chat haret
- chat-huant
- chatière
- chaton
- chatonner
- chat perché
- chat sauvage
- chat sauvage d'Europe
- chat sauvage européen
- chat sylvestre
- chatte
- chattemite
- chatterie
- chat-tigre
- comme chien et chat
- donner sa langue au chat
- donner sa langue au chat
- il ne faut pas réveiller le chat qui dort
- il n'y a pas de quoi fouetter un chat
- il n'y a pas un chat
- jeu du chat et de la souris
- jouer au chat et à la souris
- langue-de-chat
- langue de chat
- la nuit, tous les chats sont gris
- le chat parti, les souris dansent
- les chats ne font pas des chiens
- les chiens ne font pas des chats
- mousse du chat
- pas de chat
- pied de chat
- quand le chat n'est pas là, les souris dansent
- syndrome du cri du chat
Related terms
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /tʃat/
Further reading
- “chat”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Haitian Creole
Italian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃat/
- Rhymes: -at
- Hyphenation: chàt
Derived terms
See also
Etymology 2
From Somali [Term?].
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈkat/
- Rhymes: -at
- Hyphenation: chàt
Middle French
Etymology
From Old French chat, from Late Latin cattus.
Norwegian Nynorsk
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /t͡ʃætː/
Noun
chat m (definite singular chaten, indefinite plural chatar, definite plural chatane)
Old French
Etymology
From Late Latin cattus.
Noun
chat m (oblique plural chaz or chatz, nominative singular chaz or chatz, nominative plural chat)
- cat (animal)
Related terms
Polish
Pronunciation
Declension
Derived terms
- chatowy
- chatować
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /xat/
- Rhymes: -at
- Syllabification: chat
Portuguese
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈʃat(ʃ)(i)/, /ˈʃɛt(ʃ)(i)/
Romanian
Declension
singular | ||
---|---|---|
n gender | indefinite articulation | definite articulation |
nominative/accusative | (un) chat | chatul |
genitive/dative | (unui) chat | chatului |
vocative | chatule |
Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃat/ [ˈt͡ʃat̪]
- Rhymes: -at
- Syllabification: chat
Noun
chat m (plural chats)
Derived terms
Further reading
- “chat”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
Tagalog
Noun
chat
- chat (usually an exchange of text or voice messages in real time through a computer network)
Turkish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /tʃet/
Noun
chat (definite accusative chati, plural chatler)
Declension
Inflection | ||
---|---|---|
Nominative | chat | |
Definite accusative | chati | |
Singular | Plural | |
Nominative | chat | chatler |
Definite accusative | chati | chatleri |
Dative | chate | chatlere |
Locative | chatte | chatlerde |
Ablative | chatten | chatlerden |
Genitive | chatin | chatlerin |
Derived terms
- chatleşmek