# catcher

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈkæt͡ʃə/ · frequency rank #14,083

## Definitions
1. Someone or something that catches.
2. The player who squats behind home plate and receives the pitches from the pitcher.
3. The bottom partner in a homosexual relationship or sexual encounter between two men.
4. A wrestler.
5. The webbed glove that the goaltender wears on the hand opposite the hand that holds the stick.
6. Short for mailcatcher (“device for a moving train to pick up mail”)

## Etymology
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *kap-
Proto-Indo-European *-yéti
Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti
Proto-Indo-European *kaptós
Proto-Italic *kaptos
Vulgar Latin captus
Proto-Indo-European *-yetider.
Vulgar Latin -io
Vulgar Latin *captiāre
Old French chacierbor.
Anglo-Norman cachierbor.
Middle English cacchen
English catch
Latin -ariusbor.
Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz
Proto-West Germanic *-ārī
Old English -ere
Middle English -ere
English -er
English catcher
From catch + -er.

## Easily confused with
- **cater** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/catcher-vs-cater)
- **catchy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/catcher-vs-catchy)
- **caterer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/catcher-vs-caterer)
- **catch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/catch-vs-catcher)
- **cache** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cache-vs-catcher)
- **cancer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cancer-vs-catcher)
- **caches** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/caches-vs-catcher)

## Common misspellings (11)
`actcher`, `cacther`, `catccher`, `catcehr`, `catcherr`, `catchher`, `catchre`, `cathcer`, `cattcher`, `ccatcher`, `ctacher`

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