gato
Galician
Etymology
From Old Galician-Portuguese gato, from Late Latin cattus. See cat for more.
Noun
gato m (plural gatos, feminine gata, feminine plural gatas)
- cat
- c. 1295, R. Lorenzo, editor, La traducción gallega de la Crónica General y de la Crónica de Castilla, Ourense: I.E.O.P.F, page 528:
- Et auia muy grã mortaydade ẽnos poboos da vila con fome, et con coyta comiã os gatos et os caes et os mures
- And they had a big mortality among the people of the town with hunger, and with grief they ate the cats and the dogs and the mice
Derived terms
References
- “gato” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
- “gato” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
- “gato” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
- “gato” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
- “gato” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.
Further reading
- “gato”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, since 2012
Hausa
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɡàː.tôː/
Ladino
Etymology
From Late Latin cattus. See cat for more.
Lower Sorbian
Etymology
From dygato, from gdygato.
Related terms
Further reading
- Muka, Arnošt (1921, 1928) “gato”, in Słownik dolnoserbskeje rěcy a jeje narěcow (in German), St. Petersburg, Prague: ОРЯС РАН, ČAVU; Reprinted Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag, 2008
- Starosta, Manfred (1999) “gato”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag
Mauritian Creole
References
- Baker, Philip & Hookoomsing, Vinesh Y. 1987. Dictionnaire de créole mauricien. Morisyen – English – Français
Pali
Alternative forms
- 𑀕𑀢𑁄 (Brahmi script)
- गतो (Devanagari script)
- গতো (Bengali script)
- ගතො (Sinhalese script)
- ဂတော or ၷတေႃ (Burmese script)
- คโต or คะโต (Thai script)
- ᨣᨲᩮᩣ (Tai Tham script)
- ຄໂຕ or ຄະໂຕ (Lao script)
- គតោ (Khmer script)
- 𑄉𑄖𑄮 (Chakma script)
Portuguese
Etymology 1
From Old Galician-Portuguese gato, from Late Latin cattus; compare also catta, possibly of ultimately Afroasiatic origin. See the etymology at cat for further details.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɡa.tu/
- Rhymes: -atu
- Hyphenation: ga‧to
Audio (Brazil) (file)
Noun
gato m (plural gatos, feminine gata, feminine plural gatas)
- cat (domestic cat: Felis silvestris catus)
- Synonyms: (formal designation) gato-doméstico, gato caseiro
- 2000, J. K. Rowling, Lia Wyler, Harry Potter e o Prisioneiro de Azkaban, Rocco, page 55:
- [...] o gato ronronava feliz nos braços de Hermione.
- [...] the cat was purring happily on Hermione's arms.
- (by extension) feline, felid, cat
- one of a number of utensils made of iron or similar material used to fix objects
- excess flesh on the upper part of riding animals
- (colloquial) very handsome person
- (Brazil, colloquial) an illegal connection to use electricity or watch pay TV for free
- Synonym: gambiarra
- (Brazil, colloquial) a petty thief
- Synonyms: gatuno, trombadinha
- (Brazil, colloquial) truck driver who rents boias-frias to work on farming
- (Alentejo) wineskin
- (Trás-os-Montes) error, mistake
- (Trás-os-Montes) lie (deliberately false statement)
- Synonym: mentira
Adjective
gato (feminine gata, masculine plural gatos, feminine plural gatas, comparable, comparative mais gato, superlative o mais gato or gatíssimo, diminutive gatinho, augmentative gatão)
Further reading
- “gato” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913
Seychellois Creole
References
- Danielle D’Offay et Guy Lionnet, Diksyonner Kreol - Franse / Dictionnaire Créole Seychellois - Français
Spanish

Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɡato/ [ˈɡa.t̪o]
Audio (Spain): (file) - Rhymes: -ato
- Syllabification: ga‧to
Etymology 1
Inherited from Late Latin cattus (compare Catalan gat, French chat, Italian gatto, Portuguese gato). See cat for more.
Noun
gato m (plural gatos, feminine gata, feminine plural gatas)
- cat (unspecified gender)
- Synonyms: felino, félido
- Hyponyms: azul ruso, Gato de Cheshire, gato montés, gato persa, gato atigrado, gato colorado, gato exótico (“Exotic Shorthair”), siamés, devon rex (“Devon Rex”), korat (“Korat”), cartujo (“Chartreux”), gato de Van (“Turkish van”), abisinio (“Abyssinian cat”), Manx, gato Manx, gato de Borneo, gato del desierto, gato Bombay (“Bombay cat”), gato común europeo (“European shorthair”), rex alemán (“German Rex”), gato himalayo (“Himalayan cat”), bosque de Noruega (“Norwegian forest cat”)
- tomcat, gib (male cat)
- (Mexico) servant
- Synonyms: achichincle, servidor, sirviente, mozo, criado
- C-clamp
- jack (mechanical device)
- (Mexico) tic-tac-toe
- Synonym: tres en línea
- (colloquial) Madrilenian (a person from Madrid)
- Synonym: madrileño
- (Costa Rica) person with blue or green eyes
Derived terms
- arena para gato
- atar el gato
- buscarle tres pies al gato
- cuando el gato no está los ratones están de fiesta
- cuatro gatos
- dar gato por liebre
- de noche todos los gatos son pardos
- escala de gato
- gatear
- gatillo
- gatito
- gato de agua
- gato de algalia
- gato de espinas
- gato de monte
- gato escaldado del agua fría huye
- gato himalayo
- gato pescador
- gato salvaje
- gato solo
- gato tigre
- gatuno
- haber gato encerrado
- hasta el gato
- hasta los gatos
- hierba de gato
- juego de gato y ratón
- la curiosidad mató al gato
- lengua de gato
- llevarse como el perro y el gato
- llevarse el gato al agua
- mano de gato
- menta de gato
- ojo de gato
- oreja de gato
- para el gato
- pelagatos
- pelo de gato
- pie de gato
- ponerle el cascabel al gato
- rabo de gato
- sacar el ascua con la mano del gato
- sopas de gato
- tabaraste gato
- uña de gato
- uva de gato
- vender gato por liebre
Related terms
Noun
gato m (plural gatos)
- (Costa Rica) rectangular cake made of two layers joined by jam in the middle
Noun
gato m (plural gatos)
- (obsolete, slang, Argentina) whoremonger
- (vulgar, slang, Argentina) a prostitute woman
Further reading
- “gato”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
Venetian

Alternative forms
- gat (Dialectal)
Etymology
From Late Latin cattus (“cat”). See the etymology at cat for further details.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɡa.to/
- Hyphenation: gàto
Noun
gato m (plural gati)
- cat (Felis silvestris catus, a domesticated feline commonly kept as a house pet)
Welsh
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɡatɔ/
Alternative forms
- gadawo