rat

• enPR: răt, IPA^(key): /ɹæt/

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• Audio (UK)

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• Rhymes: -æt

From Middle English ratte, rat, rotte, from Old English ræt, as though from Proto-Germanic *rattaz, *rattō (compare West Frisian rôt, Dutch rat); but the rat was unknown in Northern Europe in antiquity, so if the Proto-Germanic word is real it must have referred to a different animal. Attestation of this family of words begins in the 12th century.

Some of the Germanic cognates show consonant variation, e.g. Middle High German rate, radde, ratte, ratze. The irregularity may be symptomatic of a late dispersal of the word, in which case it would not be old. Kroonen (2011) rather 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 daughters. This requires a Proto-Indo-European etymon in final *t, and is hence incompatible with the usual derivation from Proto-Indo-European *reh₁d- (“to scrape”).

rat (plural rats)

1. (zoology) A medium-sized rodent belonging to the genus Rattus.
   • 2013 May-June, Charles T. Ambrose, “Alzheimer’s Disease”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 200:

     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.

2. (informal) A term indiscriminately applied to numerous members of several rodent families (e.g. voles and mice) having bodies longer than about 12 cm, or 5 inches.
3. (informal) A person who is known for betrayal; a scoundrel; a quisling.
   • 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island

     He’s more a man than any pair of rats of you in this here house.

   What a rat, leaving us stranded here!

4. (informal) An informant or snitch.
5. (informal) A scab: a worker who acts against trade union policies.
6. (slang) A person who routinely spends time at a particular location.

   Our teenager has become a mall rat.

   He loved hockey and was a devoted rink rat.

7. (Britain, north-west London, slang, vulgar) Vagina.

   Get your rat out.

8. A wad of shed hair used as part of a hairstyle.

• (person known for betrayal): traitor (see for more synonyms)
• (informer): stool pigeon

• mouse
• rodent

rat (third-person singular simple present rats, present participle ratting, simple past and past participle ratted)

1. (usually with “on” or “out”) To betray someone and tell their secret to an authority or an enemy; to turn someone in, bewray.

   He ratted on his coworker.

   He is going to rat us out!

2. (of a dog, etc.) To kill rats.

• (to betray someone to an authority): tell on, to finger or put the finger on, bewray

From Middle English ratten, further etymology unknown. Compare Middle High German ratzen (“to scratch; rasp; tear”). Could be related to write. See also rit.

rat (plural rats)

1. (regional) A scratch or a score.
2. (nautical, regional) A place in the sea with rapid currents and crags where a ship is likely to be torn apart in stormy weather.

rat (third-person singular simple present rats, present participle ratting, simple past and past participle ratted)

1. (regional) To scratch or score.

   He ratted a vertical line on his face with a pocket knife

   .

2. (regional, rare, obsolete) To tear, rip, rend.

   Ratted to shreds.

The verb "rat" is rarely used in the second sense. In the sense of to tear, rip, rend, the form to-rat is more common. Compare German zerreißen (“to rip up, tear, rend”).

• The Middle English Dictionary
• The English dialect dictionary

• 'art, ART, ATR, Art, RTA, Tar, art, art., tar

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈrat/
• Rhymes: -at

rat m (plural rats)

1. rat

• rata

• IPA^(key): /rat/, [ˈʁɑd̥]
• Homophone: ret

rat n (singular definite rattet, plural indefinite rat)

1. wheel, steering wheel

From Middle Dutch ratte.

• Rhymes: -ɑt
• IPA^(key): /rɑt/

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• Homophone: rad

rat f (plural ratten, diminutive ratje n)

1. rat

From Middle French rat (“rat”), from Old French rat (“rat”), from Frankish *rato (“rat”); further origin uncertain. More at rat.

• IPA^(key): /ʁa/

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rat m (plural rats)

1. rat
2. (informal) sweetheart
3. scrooch

• raton
• rate
• rat d'hôtel
• rater

• “rat” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

• art

From Sanskrit रात्रि (rātri). Cognate with Hindi रात (rāt).

rat

1. night

From Old Dutch *rath, from Proto-Germanic *raþą, from Proto-Indo-European *Hret-.

rat n

1. wheel

   Synonym: wiel

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

• Dutch: rad
• Limburgish: raad

From Old Dutch *rath, from Proto-Germanic *raþaz, from Proto-Indo-European *Hret-.

rat

1. fast, quick

This adjective needs an inflection-table template.

• Dutch: rad

• “rat”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• “rat (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, 1929
• “rat (III)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, 1929

rat

1. Alternative form of ratte

From Old French rat (“rat”).

rat m (plural rats)

1. (Jersey, Guernsey) rat

rat m (plural rats)

1. (Rattus rattus)[1] black rat

• garri

• rata

Of Germanic origin. See rat for more.

rat m (oblique plural raz or ratz, nominative singular raz or ratz, nominative plural rat)

1. rat (rodent)

• French: rat
• Norman: rat

From Sanskrit रक्त (rakta, “blood”). Compare dialectal Hindi रात (rāt) and Punjabi ਰੱਤ (ratt, “blood”).

rat m (plural rat)

1. blood

From Frankish *rato (“rat”).

rat m (plural rats)

1. (Surmiran) rat

• ratung

From Proto-Slavic *ortь, from the o-grade of Proto-Indo-European *h₃er- (“to rise, to attack”), cognate to Ancient Greek ἔρις (éris, “quarrel, strife”), Sanskrit ऋति (ṛti, “assault”) and Proto-Germanic *ernustuz (“struggle, fight”)

• IPA^(key): /rât/

rȁt m (Cyrillic spelling ра̏т)

1. war

   Sȁmo idìoti mȉslē da rȁt r(j)ešáva pròblēme.‎

   Only idiots think that war solves problems.

   Rat i mir - War and Peace (Novel by Tolstoy)

• vojna

From English rat.

rat

1. rat or mouse

• mukeis (eastern dialect)

Borrowed from English rat.

• IPA^(key): [ɾat]

rat (plural rats)

1. rat (rodent of the family Muridae)

• nim
• sügaf
• süganim
• tuetaf
• tuetanim

• hirat
• jirat
• ratil
• ratül

• mug
• yat

Cognate to Icelandic hrat n.

rat n

1. garbage, waste, in forest lying twigs, rotten trees and stumps

   Hä ligg fullt vä rat å gval i skogjen

   The forest is full of rubbish and waste.