 The English word ' cat ' ( Old English catt ) is in origin a loanword , introduced to many languages of Europe from Latin cattus and Byzantine Greek κάττα , including Portuguese and Spanish gato , French chat , German Katze , Lithuanian katė , and Old Church Slavonic kotka , among others . The ultimate source of the word is Afroasiatic , presumably from Late Egyptian čaute , the feminine of čaus " wildcat " . An alternative word with cognates in many languages is English ' puss ' ( ' pussycat ' ) . Attested only from the 16th century , it may have been introduced from Dutch poes or from Low German puuskatte , related to Swedish kattepus , or Norwegian pus , pusekatt . Similar forms exist in Lithuanian puižė and Irish puiscín . The etymology of this word is unknown , but it may have simply arisen from a sound used to attract a cat . 
