rat – English noun declension

English noun forms of rat

Noun: rat
Singularrat
Pluralrats

Sample Sentences

  • Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems—surgical foam, a thermal gel depot, a microcapsule or biodegradable polymer beads. [2013 May-June, Charles T. Ambrose, “Alzheimer’s Disease”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 200:]
  • Near-synonyms: rouge, scoundrel, snake; see also Thesaurus:villain
  • rat bastard
  • He’s more a man than any pair of rats of you in this here house. [1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:]
  • What a rat, leaving us stranded here!
  • "Ah, so you damn rat, this is a put-up job eh?" [1936, F.J. Thwaites, chapter XVIII, in The Redemption, Sydney: H. John Edwards, published 1940, page 185:]
  • Our teenager has become a mall rat.
  • He loved hockey and was a devoted rink rat.
  • Get your rat out.
  • I don't need no dating app to tell me if I look like crap / To tell me if I'm thin or fat, to tell me should I shave my rat / I don't need no radio, no MTV, no BBC / I just need a bubble bath to set me on a higher path [2022, Chambers Hester Louise, Champion Michael James, Teasdale Rhian Louise, “Too Late Now”, in Wet Leg, performed by Wet Leg, Domino, →OCLC:]
  • The price of rats began to rise and soon after the marsh froze over, spearing rats began, which was done with a one tine three-eighths inch steel rod, with a wooden handle […] [1910, L. W. Pierce, “Muskrats are fast disappearing”, in Hunter-trader-trapper, page 70:]
  • Where natural marshes, or natural foods are found, are best places for raising muskrats. Louisiana and other southern states raise millions of rats, but they do not bring as good prices as northern raised ones. Delaware and Maryland have famed marshes. Other states are becoming noted for muskrat raising, also. [1929, E. J. Dailey, in Hardings Magazine's Question Box, printed in Fur Fish Game, page 73]

Etymology

1. From Middle English raat, rat, ratt, ratte, rotte, from Old English ræt, rætt, from Proto-West Germanic *ratt, from Proto-Germanic *rattaz, *rattō (“rat”), of uncertain origin, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₃d- (“to gnaw, scrape, scratch”). However, the rat may have been unknown in Northern Europe in antiquity, and the Proto-Germanic word may have referred to a different animal; see *rattaz for more. Attestation of this family of words begins in the 12th century.
2. Cognates
3. Cognate with North Frisian root (“rat”), Saterland Frisian Rotte (“rat”), West Frisian rôt (“rat”), Dutch rat, rot (“rat”), German Ratte (“rat”), Luxembourgish Rat (“rat”), Vilamovian rot, rott (“rat”), Yiddish ראַץ (rats, “rat”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål rotte (“rat”), Faroese and Icelandic rotta (“rat”), Norwegian Nynorsk rotta, rotte, røtte (“rat”), Swedish råtta (“rat”), Latin rattus, ratus (“rat”) (whence Asturian ratu (“mouse”), Catalan rata (“rat”), French rat (“rat”), Italian ratto (“rat”), Portuguese rato (“rat”), Spanish rata (“rat”), rato (“male rat”)); also Latin rōdō (“to bite, gnaw, nibble; to backbite, disparage, slander”), Sanskrit रदति (radati, “to scrape, scratch; to cut path, pave; to lead river into a channel; to bestow, convey”).
4. Some of the Germanic cognates show considerable consonant variation, e.g. Middle Low German ratte, radde; Middle High German rate, ratte, ratze. The irregularity may be symptomatic of a late dispersal of the word, although Kroonen accounts for it with a Proto-Germanic stem *raþō nom., *ruttaz gen., showing both ablaut and a Kluge's law alternation, with the variation arising from varying remodellings in the descendants. Kroonen states that this requires a Proto-Indo-European etymon in final *t and is incompatible with the usual derivation from Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₃d- (“to scrape, scratch, gnaw”). See: Middle English Nouns 'raat', Old English Nouns 'ræt', Dutch Nouns 'rat', German Nouns 'Ratte', Norwegian Nynorsk Nouns 'rotta', Swedish Nouns 'råtta', Latin Nouns 'rattus', Asturian Nouns 'ratu', Catalan Nouns 'rata', French Nouns 'rat', Italian Nouns 'ratto', Portuguese Nouns 'rato', Spanish Nouns 'rata', Latin Nouns 'rōdō'.

Verbs referencing "rat"

Galician Nouns rato.