scat
/skæt/noun, verb, interjection
scat is spelled S-C-A-T: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 32,393rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, scat means “A tax; tribute” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of scat is scats.
How many letters and syllables are in scat?
| Letters | 4: S-C-A-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 32,393rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is scat?
Scat appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 32,393rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce scat?
- /skæt/
Scat has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-scat.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with scat
Sounds like: skat (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with scat?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as scat.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: cast, cats.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of scat
- scats plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- scatt
- skatt
- skat
- scatting participle, present
- scatted participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does scat mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A tax; tribute.
- 2
A land-tax paid in the Shetland Islands.
- 3
Animal excrement; droppings, dung.
- 4
slangHeroin.
- 5
obsoleteslangWhiskey.
- 6
slangCoprophilia, scatophilia.
Enema queens, like scat queens, are really the scum of the earth.
- 7
A blow; a hit, an impact.
- 8
UKA brisk shower of rain, driven by the wind.
- 9
Scat singing.
- 10
Any fish in the family Scatophagidae.
verb
- 1
To sing an improvised melodic solo using nonsense syllables, often onomatopoeic or imitative of musical instruments.
- 2
colloquialTo leave quickly.
Here comes the principal; we'd better scat.
interjection
- 1
colloquialAn imperative demand to leave, often understood by speaker and listener as impertinent.
Scat! Go on! Get out of here!
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Scat in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense coprophilia:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | scato |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does scat come from?
From Middle English scet, schat, from Old English sċeatt (“property, goods”) and Old Norse skattr (“wealth, treaure”); both from Proto-Germanic *skattaz (“cattle, kine, wealth”), from Proto-Indo-European *skatn-, *skat- (“to jump, skip, splash out”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).