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kitty

noun
KIT-ee/ˈkɪti/

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9 meanings of kitty

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  1. 1
    nouncolloquialcountable
    An informal or affectionate word for a cat, especially a pet cat or a kitten; often used by or to children.

    Our neighbor's old kitty sleeps on the porch rail every afternoon.

    "Here, kitty, kitty!" she called, shaking the bag of treats.

    Similarpussycat, puss, cat

  2. 2
    shared fundnounslangcountable
    A pool of money card players feed from their winnings to pay shared costs such as the room or refreshments; also, any shared fund for joint purposes, or cash set aside for later.

    Everyone in the office puts five dollars a week into the kitty for coffee.

    At the end of the night the musicians emptied the tip jar into the kitty and split it four ways.

    UsageMoney goes into the kitty or comes out of the kitty.

    Similarfund, pool, pot

    Note

    The word began at the card table, where players paid part of their winnings into a fund for the room and the drinks, and it may come from kit, a collection of things, plus a diminutive -y. Today it covers any shared fund (an office coffee jar, a band's pooled tips) and money goes into the kitty or comes out of it.

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • Card players contributed part of their winnings to cover premises and refreshments. en.wikipedia.org
    • The money sense may derive from kit, meaning a collection of things, plus diminutive -y. en.wiktionary.org
  3. 3
    private partsnounslangvulgareuphemisticcountable
    A euphemistic or vulgar slang word for the vulva or vagina.

    After the spin class, she groaned that her kitty would never forgive her.

    He leaned in and whispered something about her kitty, and she swatted his arm.

    Similarpussy

    Note

    Probably modeled on pussy, it borrows the same cat image and works both ways at once: coy and euphemistic in one speaker's mouth, crude in another's. It appears freely in erotic romance fiction, and like its model it can turn an innocent mention of a cat into a double entendre, so the sentence around it decides how it lands.

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Origins

Meanings 1, 3

From kitt(en) + the diminutive suffix -y; compare Dutch katje (“kitty”). The sense “vulva, vagina” is probably modelled on the same use of pussy.

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

Meanings 2, 4–6

Where the word comes from is unclear. For the sense used in card games, one possibility is that it was made from kit, meaning a collection of items, plus -y, a suffix that makes something small.

Meaning 8

Of uncertain origin; possibly a clipping of the obsolete dialectal kid(cote) (“lockup, prison”) + the diminutive suffix -y.

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

  • The origin is uncertain; a proposed derivation is a clipping of kidcote plus the diminutive suffix -y. en.wiktionary.org
  • Kidcote is an obsolete dialectal word meaning a lockup or prison. en.wiktionary.org
Meaning 7

From Kitty, a diminutive of the female given name Katherine.

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

Meaning 9

A clipping of kitt(iwake) + the diminutive suffix -y.

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

  • Kitty derives from a clipping of kittiwake plus the diminutive suffix -y. en.wiktionary.org