caterwaul
/ˈkæt.ə.wɔːl/
"caterwaul" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“caterwaul” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To cry as cats in heat; to make a harsh, offensive noise.
Corpus desk
Index EN-caterwaul · caterwaul · English
caterwaul · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "C" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | caterwaul |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈkæt.ə.wɔːl/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “caterwaul” in English
Rare enough to double-check
caterwaul is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /ˈkæt.ə.wɔːl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for caterwaul in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English caterwrawen, from cater (“cat”) + wrawen, wrawlen (“cry like a cat”), equivalent to cat + waul. Compare Low German katerwaulen (“to cry like a cat”) and Middle Dutch cater (“tomcat”) (Dutch kater). The correct English form is caterwaul, spelled C-A-T-E-R-W-A-U-L.
Definition
- 1To cry as cats in heat; to make a harsh, offensive noise.
- 2To have a noisy argument, like cats.
Etymology
From Middle English caterwrawen, from cater (“cat”) + wrawen, wrawlen (“cry like a cat”), equivalent to cat + waul. Compare Low German katerwaulen (“to cry like a cat”) and Middle Dutch cater (“tomcat”) (Dutch kater).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.