Some Germans call their cat a Stubentiger, which translates to 'room tiger' (die Stube – room/lounge; der Tiger – tiger). Meow is miau in German. And finally, how do you call a cat in German? If you want the equivalent to 'here, kitty, kitty kitty', try 'miez miez miez'!
6 – Der Stubentiger
Your furry feline friend probably thinks she rules the house, so this German word is a very apt way of describing her. “Der Stubentiger,” or the room tiger, is a common way to talk about a cat in German – although the most common word is of course “die Katze”.
Der Stubentiger: A German word for cat, with feeling.
The first cat-related thing that's different in the Russian language is a gender issue, as there are different words for a male (кот, kot) and a female (кошка, koshka) cat, and you always state a cat's gender if you know or at least suspect what it is.
'Der Stubentiger' is a fun German word that all cat lovers should know. 'Der Tiger' is, of course, a tiger and 'Die Stube' refers to the living room. Put those two words together and you have a wonderful nickname that Germans sometimes use to talk about their cats: literally, the room tiger.
cat (n.) Old English catt (c. 700) "domestic cat," from West Germanic (c. 400-450), from Proto-Germanic *kattuz (source also of Old Frisian katte, Old Norse köttr, Dutch kat, Old High German kazza, German Katze), from Late Latin cattus.
The Italian word for cat is gatto. It is a masculine singular word, and its other forms are: gatta: (feminine singular) gatti: (masculine plural)
The ancient Romans were more into canines (from Lat. canis/dog), but they certainly appreciated cats (Lat. feles/felis as in FELine) — not least for their inclination to dine on meddling mice ("Love to eat them mousies, Mousies what I love to eat.
Koshka (Russian: Кошка) means "Kitty" in Russian.
Cat — miau (meow)
Meow sounds exactly the same in German as it does in English, but you spell it as miau.
German speakers' love for cats is so profound, their language is filled with feline-inspired idioms. Is it possible the love is mutual, and cats understand German better than other languages?
Das Kätzchen
This is the word for kitten. It's also a diminutive of die Katze, so even if your cat is not a kitten, but you want to talk about them affectionately, you can call them a Kätzchen. Click through to this post to learn about German diminutives.
noun. kleine Katze, Kätzchen nt.
• cat. → huiskat; kat; poes; kater. ↔ chat — Chat domestique. • cat.
In medieval England domestic cats were known as Gyb – the short form of of Gilbert – and that name was also popular for individual pet cats. Meanwhile in France they were called Tibers or Tibert was generic name fo domestic cat in France – Tibert the Cat was one of the characters in the Reynard the Fox animal fables.
The usual ancient Greek word for "cat" was ailouros, meaning "thing with the waving tail", but this word could also be applied to any of the "various long-tailed carnivores kept for catching mice".
Dogs had names like Bo, Nameles, and Hemmerli (Little Hammer). Cats had Tibert and Gyb. Other names for cats included Mite, who prowled around Beaulieu Abbey in the 13th century, and Belaud, a grey cat belonging to Joachim du Bellay in the 16th century. Isabella d'Este also owned a cat named Martino.
The most common way to say “kitty” in French is un minou. Like many of the terms on our list, this word is masculine but can sometimes be used for female cats as well. You'll probably also come across the variants minet for male kitties and minette for female kitties, although these are a bit less common than minou.
#1 Gato – Gatito
This word is normally used in either one of two ways, “gatito” may refer to: A baby cat (there is no real equivalent for “kitten” in Spanish) A diminutive expression, normally used as a term of endearment or pity.
Putzi. (das) baby [österr.] (das) baby [österr.], a dog name.
Schatz and its variations, Schätzchen and Schatzi (“little treasure”) is the most common term of endearment in German by far. It is capitalized like all German nouns. Almost all German-speaking couples call each other this, and it's also commonly used with children.