noun
kitten
KIH-tuhn
noun
1
A young cat.
"The kitten batted at a ball of yarn across the floor."
"They adopted two kittens from the same litter."
verb
1
To give birth to kittens.
"The stray cat kittened under the porch last spring."
How to Use Kitten
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA baby cat, or (as a verb, less common) to give birth to kittens.
Common pairings
a litter of kittens
have kittens
Word Forms
kittened past tense, kittens plural, kittens singular
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The _____ batted at a ball of yarn across the floor.
Etymology
From a Middle English word for kitten, most likely borrowed through Anglo-Norman French from a diminutive form of "cat" — the same pattern that gave French its word chaton.