 The English word ' cat ' ( Old English <unk> ) is in origin a loanword , introduced to many languages of Europe from Latin <unk> and Byzantine Greek <unk> , including Portuguese and Spanish <unk> , French chat , German <unk> , Lithuanian <unk> , and Old Church Slavonic <unk> , among others . The ultimate source of the word is Afroasiatic , presumably from Late Egyptian <unk> , the feminine of <unk> " 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 <unk> or from Low German <unk> , related to Swedish <unk> , or Norwegian pus , <unk> . Similar forms exist in Lithuanian <unk> and Irish <unk> . The etymology of this word is unknown , but it may have simply arisen from a sound used to attract a cat . 
