kitten

Etymology

From Middle English kitoun, kytton, kyton, keton (“kitten”). Seemingly from, and usually explained as being from, unattested Anglo-Norman *kitoun, *ketun (compare Old French chitoun, cheton, chaton (“kitten”), diminutive of cat, chat (“cat”)); whence Modern French chaton (“kitten”). Similar words of Germanic origin may have reinforced this word; compare English kitling (“kit, kitten”), Low German Kitten (“kitten”), Icelandic kettlingur (“kitten”), Middle English chitte ("whelp, pup", see chit). The idea that kitoun, rather than being of Anglo-Norman origin, was in fact a purely Germanic derivation from one of these words is etymologically problematic, but cannot be definitively ruled out.

noun

1. A young cat, especially before sexual maturity (reached at about seven months).
   It was supposed to have happened thus: the cat had young kittens, and frequently carried them mice, and other animals its prey, and among the rest a young rat: the kittens, not being hungry, played with it, and when the cat came to give suck to the kittens, the rat likewise sucked her. 1752 January, The London Magazine, and Monthly Chronologer, page 243&244
   To the sounds, however, I paid no attention at first as I was much interested in the subject upon which I was writing; but at length my som Richard burst into my study, exclaiming that the kitten had climbed up to the top of a young ash tree, and could not get down again. 1844, The Kitten, the Religious Tract Society, page 1 & 2
   Jailing her on Wednesday, magistrate Liz Clyne told Robins: "You have shown little remorse either for the death of the kitten or the trauma to your former friend Sarah Knutton." She was also banned from keeping animals for 10 years. December 14, 2011, Steven Morris, “Devon woman jailed for 168 days for killing kitten in microwave”, in Guardian
2. A young rabbit, rat, hedgehog, squirrel, fox, beaver, badger, etc.
   The first move at beaver raising in North Dakota had its starting in the fall of 1874, when a kitten beaver was taken out of Mandan Lake by the writer and given to a little Indian girl who then lived with her guardians at Pretty Point near the present village of Sanger, Oliver county. 1906, Joseph Henry Taylor, Beavers, Their Ways, and Other Sketches, page 49
   2009, Kathryn Walker, See How Rabbits Grow, publ. by PowerKiDS press (The Rosen Publishing Group Inc.), page 10. Rabbit babies are called kittens or kits. The mother prepares a cosy nest for her kittens.
3. A moth of the genus Furcula.
   Two of these formed cocoons in a manner I have not seen before. They were supplied when full-grown with plenty of rotten willow wood, which I have always found a most suitable material for insects using bark or old wood in forming cocoons such as the kittens, Apatele alni, etc., and most made the usual cycle of cocoons on it. 1959, Odonata reprints: J. G. Needham collection, volume 3, page 657
4. (colloquial) A term of endearment, especially for a woman.
   Speak only when spoken to, kitten. 1995, Duckman, "America the Beautiful" (season 2, episode 5)

verb

1. To give birth to kittens.
   A cat about to kitten, must not be spoken of by its name, but called a witch. (Madagascar.) 2003, Cora Linn Daniels, C. M. Stevans, Encyclopedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World
   'Princess the Lady Regina of Alphington is about to kitten. I must be there to support her.' 2016, Kerry Greenwood, Murder and Mendelssohn, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 319