Caddy or catty?
caddy is a noun meaning “A small box or tin (can) with a lid for holding dried tea leaves used to brew…”; catty is an adjective meaning “Resembling or characteristic of a cat”. Use caddy as a noun and catty as an adjective (catty is also a noun: “A (unit of) weight used in China which is metricated in…”). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) caddy is about 2.5 times as common as catty.
What is the difference between caddy and catty?
| caddy | catty | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | adjective, noun |
| Meaning | A small box or tin (can) with a lid for holding dried tea leaves used to brew tea A (usually small) box, chest, or tin with a lid, and often with partitions, used to keep things in Chiefly followed by for: alternative spelling of caddie (“to serve as a caddy (noun sense) for a golfer”) | informalResembling or characteristic of a cat informalWith subtle hostility in an effort to hurt, annoy, or upset (particularly in interactions between women) informalA (unit of) weight used in China which is metricated in Mainland China as exactly 0.5 kg, and approximately 0.6 kg for other places |
| Example | Place the disc in the DVD caddy | catty eyes |
| Forms | caddies | cattier, cattiest |
| Pronunciation | /ˈkædi/ [-ɾi] | /ˈkæti/ [ˈkʰæɾi] |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words | about once in every 3 million words |
Sources: caddy and catty in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of caddy and catty
caddy
- 1
A small box or tin (can) with a lid for holding dried tea leaves used to brew tea
- 2
Alternative spelling of caddie (“a person hired to assist a golfer by carrying their golf clubs and providing advice”)
Caddy, pass me my five iron
- 3
Chiefly followed by for: alternative spelling of caddie (“to serve as a caddy (noun sense) for a golfer”)
I was honored to caddy for Tiger Woods at a charity golf game
- 4
USinformalA Cadillac car
She pulled up in a shiny black Caddy at six o'clock
- 5
A (usually small) box, chest, or tin with a lid, and often with partitions, used to keep things in
- 6
A small lidded bin for food waste
- 7
A movable tray or other mechanism for holding (sometimes within a piece of equipment or machinery), securing, and transporting a removable component
Place the disc in the DVD caddy
- 8
A lightweight wheeled cart; specifically, one attached to a bicycle as a conveyance for a child, or pulled by hand and used to transport groceries away from a shop
catty
- 1
informalResembling or characteristic of a cat
catty eyes
- 2
informalA (unit of) weight used in China which is metricated in Mainland China as exactly 0.5 kg, and approximately 0.6 kg for other places
- 3
informalslangA catapult
- 4
informalWith subtle hostility in an effort to hurt, annoy, or upset (particularly in interactions between women)
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, caddy or catty?
caddy appears about once in every 1 million words; catty about once in every 3 million words.
caddy about once in every 1 million wordscatty about once in every 3 million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).