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PlainSpell

tat

/tæt/noun, verb

tat is spelled T-A-T: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.2 times per million words in written English, the 18,297th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, tat means “Cheap and vulgar tastelessness; sleaze” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of tat is tats.

How many letters and syllables are in tat?

Letters3: T-A-T
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing2.2 times per million words; the 18,297th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
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 tat?

Tat appears 2.2 times per million words in written English, the 18,297th 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 tat?

  • /tæt/

Tat 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-tat.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with tat

Also written: tatty.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with tat?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as tat.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: att.

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 tat

  • tats plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • tatting participle, present
  • tatted participle, past
  • tattoo
  • tatt

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does tat mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    UKCheap and vulgar tastelessness; sleaze.

  2. 2

    UKCheap, tasteless, useless goods; trinkets.

    tourist tat

  3. 3

    IndiaGunny cloth made from the fibre of the Corchorus olitorius (jute).

  4. 4

    slangA tattoo.

  5. 5

    Some small thing, especially that which is exchanged tit for tat.

  6. 6

    Clipping of tatting.

  7. 7

    IndiaarchaicA pony.

  8. 8

    UKarchaicslangAlternative form of tatt (“a die, especially one that is loaded”).

  9. 9

    Alternative form of tatty (“kind of woven mat or screen”).

verb

  1. 1

    To make (something by) tatting.

  2. 2

    slangTo apply a tattoo.

noun

as Tat
  1. 1

    A member of an Iranian people, presently living within Azerbaijan, Armenia and southern Dagestan in Russia.

noun

as TAT
  1. 1

    Initialism of total air temperature.

  2. 2

    Initialism of thematic apperception test.

  3. 3

    Initialism of turnaround time.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Where does tat come from?

From Hindi टाट (ṭāṭ, “thick canvas”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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