## Meanings
1. A small grey or brown rodent with a long tail, larger than a mouse.
2. A person who betrays or cheats others.
3. To tell the police or someone in charge about another person's wrongdoing.

## Examples
- A rat ran across the kitchen floor.
- Everyone called him a rat for telling on his friends.
- He ratted on his coworker to the boss.

## Synonyms
- bewray

## Derived Forms
- antirat
- bograt
- clubrat
- demonrat
- derat
- deratize
- gym-rat
- hasbarat
- hog-rat
- hoodrat
- k-rat
- kangaroo-rat

## Related Forms
- mouse
- rodent

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *Hreh₃d-
- Root: ratte
- Root: rætt
- Root: *ratt
- Root: *rattaz

## Etymology
From Middle English ratte, rat, rotte, from Old English rætt, from Proto-West Germanic *ratt, from Proto-Germanic *rattaz, *rattō (compare West Frisian rôt, Dutch rat), of uncertain origin, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₃d- (“to scrape, scratch, gnaw”). 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. Some of the Germanic cognates show considerable consonant variation, e.g. Middle Low German ratte, radde; Midd…

## AI Etymology
Rat comes from Middle English ratte, rat, rotte, from Old English rætt, from Proto-West Germanic *ratt, from Proto-Germanic *rattaz, *rattō (compare West Frisian rôt, Dutch rat), of uncertain origin, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₃d- (“to scrape, scratch, gnaw”). 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. Some of the Germanic cognates show considerable consonant variation, e.g. Modern senses include a small grey or brown rodent with a long tail, larger than a mouse. and a person who betrays or cheats others.. The wider word family includes derivatives such as antirat, bograt, clubrat, demonrat, derat, and deratize and related forms such as mouse and rodent.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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