kaķis

Old word, which spread together with the animal millennia ago, apparently ultimately of Afroasiatic origin, later borrowed into Proto-Indo-European.

The Latvian term was apparently influenced by the Germanic forms: kaķis < *katis, from feminine *kate (cf. dialectal katene (“kitten”)), at first in Couronian dialects, later in other dialects and in the standard language.

Cognates include Lithuanian katė̃, Old Prussian catto ([kato]), Russian кот (kot), Middle High German, Middle Dutch katte, German Katze, English cat, Latin cattus, catta.^[1]

• IPA^(key): [ˈkacːis]

• Audio:

  (file)

kaķis m (2nd declension)

1. domestic cat (Felis silvestris catus)

   melns kaķis ― black cat

   kaķis murrā ― the cat purrs

   kaķis noķēris peli ― the cat caught a mouse

   veikls kā kaķis ― neat as a cat

   acis kā kaķim ― eyes like a cat's (= good vision)

• kaķe, kaķene
• kaķēns

• runcis

• kaķis at tezaurs.lv