ratter C2+ Topic:Animals US /ˈrætɚ/ UK /ˈrætə/ See IPA manual Meanings 1 noun a dog or other animal that hunts and kills rats The terrier was a fierce ratter, clearing the barn within a week. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 noun · a dog or other animal that... ratcatcherterriermouser Word family Related forms ratratting Etymology AI details From rat + -er; rat is from Old English ræt, of Germanic origin, related to Dutch rat and German Ratte. ræt Old English View etymology graph -> Topics Animals Word Formation & Derivatives External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # ratter **Type:** Word **Level:** C2+ **Part of speech:** noun **IPA (US):** /ˈrætɚ/ **IPA (UK):** /ˈrætə/ ## Meanings 1. a dog or other animal that hunts and kills rats ## Examples - The terrier was a fierce ratter, clearing the barn within a week. ## Synonyms - ratcatcher - terrier - mouser ## Related Forms - rat - ratting ## Roots and Affixes - Root: ræt ## Etymology From rat + -er; rat is from Old English ræt, of Germanic origin, related to Dutch rat and German Ratte. ## AI Etymology Ratter comes from rat + -er; rat is from Old English ræt, of Germanic origin, related to Dutch rat and German Ratte. The historical chain includes Old English ræt. Morphologically, ratter is best read as compound, suffixal formation, and borrowing, yielding an English noun shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as a noun, with the sense "a dog or other animal that hunts and kills rats". related forms include rat and ratting. The result is an English noun whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning. ## Topics - Animals - Word Formation & Derivatives markdown