Etymograph

English

kitling

Kitling comes from Old Norse ketlingr ‘kitten’, from kǫttr ‘cat’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kattuz.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kattuz1‘cat’reconstructed
  2. Old Norsec. 800–1350kǫttr2‘cat’
  3. Old Norsec. 800–1350ketlingr2‘kitten’diminutive of kǫttr
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500kiteling2‘kitten, kit’
  5. Englishtodaykitling2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Old Norse kǫttr
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English kitling

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kattuzWiktionary, Old Norse kǫttr‘cat’reconstructed
  2. Old Norsec. 800–1350kǫttrWiktionary, English kitling‘cat’
  3. Old Norsec. 800–1350ketlingrWiktionary, English kitling‘kitten’diminutive of kǫttr
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500kitelingWiktionary, English kitling‘kitten, kit’
  5. EnglishtodaykitlingWiktionary, English kitling

Formed from cat + -ling

Proto-Germanic *kattuz

Proto-West Germanic *kattu

Old English catt ‘male cat’

Middle English cat ‘cat’

English cat

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *kattuz ‘cat’

cat

Today it means

noun Any young animal; cub, whelp, kit.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “kitling”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old Norse kǫttr. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *kattuz / kitling

Shirt and support for this word