# Cathay vs catty

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### Cathay
*name · IPA /kæˈθeɪ/ · frequency rank #37,846*
China, specifically medieval northern China as reached by the overland Silk Road to Xi'an or Beijing, not known at the time to be related to southern China as reached by the maritime routes to Guangzhou.

### catty
*adjective · IPA /ˈkæti/ · frequency rank #49,246*
With subtle hostility in an effort to hurt, annoy, or upset, particularly among women.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cathay-vs-catty