German

Ein Chat

Noun

Chat m ‎(genitive Chats, plural Chats)

1. A chat, exchange of text or voice messages in real time, notably by Internet

Declension

Related terms

• chatten (verb)

English

Verb

chat ‎(third-person singular simple present chats, present participle chatting, simple past and past participle chatted)

Two people chatting. (1) (2)

1. To be engaged in informal conversation.

   She chatted with her friend in the cafe.

   I like to chat over a coffee with a friend.

2. To talk more than a few words.

   I met my old friend in the street, so we chatted for a while.

3. (transitive) To talk of; to discuss.

   They chatted politics for a while.

4. 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

Noun

chat ‎(countable and uncountable, plural chats)

1. (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.

2. A conversation to stop an argument or settle situations.
3. (totum pro parte, always with definite article, video games) The entirety of users in a chatroom or a single member thereof.

   The Chat just made a joke about my skills.

4. An exchange of text or voice messages in real time through a computer network, resembling a face-to-face conversation.
5. Any of various small Old World passerine birds in the muscicapid tribe Saxicolini or subfamily Saxicolinae that feed on insects.
6. Any of several small Australian honeyeaters in the genus Epthianura.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Compare chit "small piece of paper", and chad.^[1]

Noun

chat

1. A small potato, such as is given to swine.

References

1. ↑ William Safire, The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time, p. 43, Simon and Schuster, 2007 ISBN 1416587403.

Etymology 3

Origin unknown.

Noun

chat ‎(plural chats)

1. (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.

Translations

Etymology 4

From thieves' cant.

Alternative forms

• chatt

Noun

chat ‎(plural chats)

1. (Britain, Australia, New Zealand, WWI 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 978-1-4357-1811-1), 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 1137303263), 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.

Etymology 5

Noun

chat ‎(plural chats)

1. Alternative form of chaat

Anagrams

• ACTH, Cath, cath, tach

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʃɛt/

Etymology

From English chat.

Noun

chat m ‎(plural chats, diminutive chatje n)

1. chat (online conversation)
2. chat (online conversation platform)

Derived terms

• chatten

Verb

chat

1. first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of chatten
2. imperative of chatten

Anagrams

• acht

French

Etymology 1

From Middle French chat, from Old French chat, from Late Latin cattus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃa/, /ʃɑ/

Noun

chat m ‎(plural chats)

1. 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.

2. (male) cat, tom, tomcat
3. tag, tig (children’s game)

Related terms

Derived terms

• chat échaudé craint l'eau froide
• donner sa langue au chat
• quand le chat n'est pas là, les souris dansent

See also

• chatte
• haret
• matou
• minet
• minou
• mistigri

Etymology 2

Borrowing from English chat.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʃat/

Noun

chat m ‎(plural chats)

1. (Internet) chat (online discussion)

Synonyms

• tchat

Derived terms

• chatter
• chater
• chatteur
• chateur

Iban

Etymology

From Min Nan 漆 ‎(chhat), from Middle Chinese 漆 ‎(tsit).

Noun

chat

1. paint (substance)

Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /xat̪ˠ/

Noun

chat m

1. Lenited form of cat.

Mutation

Italian

Etymology 1

Borrowing from English chat.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʃɛt/, /tʃat/

Noun

chat f ‎(invariable)

1. chat (informal conversation via computer)

Derived terms

• chattare

See also

• chiacchierata

Etymology 2

From Somali.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kat/

Noun

chat m ‎(invariable)

1. chat (leaf chewed by people in North Africa and the Middle East)

Synonyms

• khat

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French chat, from Late Latin cattus

Noun

chat m (plural chats or chatz, feminine singular chatte, feminine plural chattes)

1. cat (animal)

Descendants

• French: chat

Old French

Alternative forms

• cat (Picardy, Anglo-Norman)
• kat (Picardy, Anglo-Norman)

Etymology

Late Latin cattus.

Noun

chat m ‎(oblique plural chaz or chatz, nominative singular chaz or chatz, nominative plural chat)

1. cat (animal)

Descendants

• Middle French: chat
  • French: chat

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowing from English chat.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʃat͡ʃ/

Noun

chat m (plural chats)

1. (Internet) chat (exchange of text or voice messages in real time)

Synonyms

• bate-papo

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowing from English chat.

Noun

chat m ‎(plural chats)

1. chat (exchange of text or voice messages in real time through a computer network)