rat

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A small grey or brown rodent with a long tail, larger than a mouse.

   A rat ran across the kitchen floor.

2. 2
   noun

   A person who betrays or cheats others.

   Everyone called him a rat for telling on his friends.

3. 3
   verb

   To tell the police or someone in charge about another person's wrongdoing.

   He ratted on his coworker to the boss.

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Simplified etymology

Rat has existed in English since Anglo-Saxon times, but its ultimate origin is unknown. It may date from the period when rats first reached Europe from Asia, though this remains uncertain.

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…

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