You rarely meet a person who does not know who the cat is? After all, a fluffy and sometimes rather wayward animal lives in almost every house, pleasing the eyes of all household members.
In addition, images of both adult proud cats and small, carefree and a little stupid kittens are replete with the entire Internet. There are many groups and communities dedicated to these creatures. Tales and stories about them. For example, in the famous Soviet cartoon "Kitten Woof", the main role is played by a cat.
But where did the word "cat" come from? If you do not know, but really want to understand the answer to this question, read the article. And then you will understand everything!
Origin of the word "cat"
The very word "cat" was formed from the word "cat". It has not been proven exactly, but it is generally accepted that the definition of a male feline came from the Latin language. In which there is a similar word cattus, denoting this particular animal.
The Latin word appeared around the fifth century, and then, many years later, it underwent changes. And reduced tocat. Perhaps you know it from an English lesson. After all, that's what the British still call a fluffy pet.
In the modern Russian language, the word "cat" came from the Old Russian dialect. Once upon a time, your great-great-grandfathers affectionately called the domesticated representative of the cat "cat".
From him the words denoting the cubs of the cat family, as well as the process of their birth, were formed. "Kittens", "kitten", "litter" - these are all derivatives of the word "cat".
If you wish, you can easily pick up a synonym for the word "cat". For example, kitty, kitty, cat, kitty and many others.
The word "cat" in the dictionary
According to the interpretation of Tatyana Fedorovna Efremova, a cat is a female cat that lives at home and catches mice and rats. And besides, it is also a device invented in order to first find, and then raise something from the bottom of a river, lake, sea, etc.
Sergei Ivanovich Ozhegov offers a different meaning of the word "cat". He claims that this animal is a member of the "cat family" mammals, small in size.
Natalya Yulyevna Shvedova defines a cat as the skin or fur of this animal and any fur product. In addition, Shvedova also gives a definition similar to Ozhegov's: a cat is a predatory mammal from the feline genus, which has many species: domestic, forest, steppe, reed, etc.
Meaning of the word "cat"
After reading a few definitions for the word "cat", we can conclude thatit has three meanings:
- animal, female;
- skin/fur, fur product;
- tool.
Since the chosen word is most often used to refer to an animal, let's consider it in this meaning in more detail.
So, the cat family includes several types of cats. Here are a few:
- forest;
- steppe;
- reed;
- homemade.
What does a cat look like?
In the modern world there are more than forty species of wild cats. And even more at home! Mammals of the cat family are traditionally divided into large and small representatives:
- The big ones are cheetahs, leopards, tigers, lynxes, panthers, etc.
- Small - forest, steppe, domestic and other cats.
Cats are mustachioed four-legged predators. They have large eyes and ears that stand upright. Also these animals have wide jaws and sharp teeth and a long tail. These creatures are covered with hair, which varies in length. They can be smooth and fluffy.
Color is different, there are even red and fiery red. The size of a domestic cat is about 60 cm, weight - from four to 16 kg. Wild cats are bigger and therefore much heavier.
Types of cats
Forest cats are very similar to domestic cats, differing from them only in size. They live in dense, mountainous forests, living in abandoned badger burrows or heron nests, and can comfortably nest even in a hollow.
Hunt mainly at night, but shyness is notcharacter trait of this animal. He is excellent at climbing trees and, in case of danger, can easily climb to a great height, thereby hiding from his pursuers.
The steppe cat is one of the ancient inhabitants of the planet. Its size is smaller than that of the previous feline, and the coat is shorter. Prefers to live on the territory of sandy and clay plains, close to water sources.
He goes hunting at night and feeds on small rodents, and especially loves bird eggs. Also, the steppe cat will not miss the opportunity to have a snack with representatives of the aquatic fauna, which he can catch directly in the water due to the fact that he is an excellent swimmer.
Reed cat because of its color and characteristic tassels on the ears has a second name - marsh lynx. Not particularly whimsical in terms of convenience, he equips his rookery right on the ground, covering his place of residence with shreds of his own wool and dried reed leaves.
A distinctive feature of cats of this species is the presence of large ears, in connection with which they have excellent hearing. This makes life very easy, as the swamp lynx has much worse eyesight than its other counterparts.
The variety of domestic breeds of the described animal is simply colossal. Burmese, Siamese, Norwegian Forest, Persian, Siberian, Turkish, Angora cat - this is not a complete list of cat breeds. There are also Britons, Sphynxes, Maine Coons and many others. And they are all dearly lovedthe best, most beautiful and fun full members of many families.
Why do people get cats
Cats are adorable fluffy creatures, although they love to walk by themselves. People love them, despite their wayward and proud disposition. They find abandoned, wet and dirty on the street and, without hesitation, drag them home, where they bathe, heat and fatten.
Some cat lovers buy them outfits, the best food, furnish their private room, and more. In most families, there is only one cat in the house, but there are also cat lovers who have five, ten, or even more cats. Mostly elderly lonely people do this. It's just that cats, with all their disdain for the whole world, are still affectionate and able to cheer up their owner with one short "meow".
Morphology
Morphological analysis allows you to evaluate the features of a particular word, to determine its features in a particular sentence. We will analyze the word "cat":
- Having asked a question to the selected word, you can determine what part of speech it belongs to, what case, number, form it is in. So who? Cat.
- So this is a noun in the nominative case, singular.
- Now answer: is this someone's name, nickname or the name of the city, street? If not, then the word "cat" is a common noun.
- Is it a living being or an object? Judging by what has already been said, the word "cat", depending on the context, can be both animate and inanimate. Therefore, whenin determining this feature, pay attention to the meaning of the word in the sentence.
- In order to determine the genus, you must ask a question. Whose cat? She is mine! Therefore, the gender is feminine.
- The correctness of determining the next sign will be affected by your knowledge of the types of declension. This word refers to the singular feminine and ends with the letter "a". It turns out that "cat" is a noun of the first declension.
Phonetics
Sound-letter analysis of a word allows you to parse it into sounds and letters in order to see the difference in pronunciation and spelling of a given word. So, the phonetic analysis of the word "cat":
- Determine the presence (how many) of vowels in a word to divide it into syllables. Kosh-ka - 2 syllables. The emphasis falls on the letter "o".
- Before analyzing the letters and sounds in a word, a transcription of the word "cat" must be presented. This is necessary in order to clearly understand how the word is pronounced. After all, unaccented vowels or paired consonants in some words can be strikingly different from the letters with which they are indicated in the letter. Or not be pronounced at all. As, for example, occurs in the word "starry". It will sound like [starry']. That is, without the letter "d" in the middle of the word. Judging by the transcription of the word [cat], the pronunciation and spelling forms are identical here.
Now write down the sounds in the word "cat":
- k - [k] - consonant, pronounced firmly and dull, there is a paired sound [r];
- o - [o] - vowel sound, spelled the same asheard because it is stressed;
- sh - [w] - hissing consonant, pronounced firmly and dull, there is a paired sound [g];
- k - [k] - consonant, pronounced firmly and dull, there is a paired sound [r];
- a - [a] - a vowel sound, spelled the same as it is heard, because the sound "a" is not in doubt, even though the stress does not fall on it.
The word "cat" has the same number of letters and sounds - 5.
Morfemics
Morphemic analysis will allow you to consider the composition of the word "cat".
Compound words have adjectives, roots, suffixes and endings. The selected word is simple, so its analysis will not cause difficulties and problems.
Morphemic parsing of the word:
- In order to find out if there is a prefix in the word, as well as to determine the root, you should choose the same-root words: cat - kitten, kitten, cat.
- No prefix.
- Root - "kosh".
- The case declension will help to identify the ending: cat, cats, cat, cat, cat, about the cat. Ending "a".
- According to the rule, the part left between the root and the ending is a suffix. In this word, this is the letter "k".
Well, now you know where the word "cat" came from, what it means and how it is understood.
