Wiktionary

pat

See also: Appendix:Variations of "pat"
Languages (51)
English
Albanian • Aromanian • Bakung • Bariai • Belait • Bintulu • Bunun • Central Melanau • Chinese • Chuj • Chuukese • Czech • Danish • Dutch • Eskayan • French • Haitian Creole • Hokkien • Iban • Icelandic • Indonesian • Javanese • Kapampangan • Krio • Lamaholot • Latin • Latvian • Lithuanian • Livonian • Maguindanao • Maia • Malay • Manggarai • Maranao • Marshallese • Murik (Malaysia) • Old Javanese • Polish • Puyuma • Rejang Kayan • Rembong • Romanian • Sasak • Serbo-Croatian • Slovak • Toba Batak • Tocharian B • Volapük • Yucatec Maya • Zou
Page categories

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English *patten, alteration (with loss of medial l) of platten, pletten (“to pat”), from Old English plættan (“to buffet, strike, slap, smack, give a sounding blow”), from Proto-Germanic *plat- (“to strike, beat”), from Proto-Indo-European *blod-, *bled- (“to strike, beat”). Cognate with Middle Dutch platten, pletten (“to strike, bruise, crush, rub”), German platzen (“to split, burst, break up”), Bavarian patzen (“to pat”), Swedish plätta, pjätta (“to pat, tap”). For loss of l, compare patch for platch; pate for plate, etc. See plat.

Noun

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pat (plural pats)

  1. The sound of a light slap or tap with a soft flat object, especially of a footstep.
    We heard a pat on the door.
  2. A light tap or slap, especially with the hands.
    Give Mary a pat on the shoulder to get her attention.
  3. A flattish lump of soft matter, especially butter or dung.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Verb

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pat (third-person singular simple present pats, present participle patting, simple past and past participle patted)

  1. To (gently) tap the flat of one's hand on a person or thing.
    To show affection, he decided he would pat the boy on the head.
  2. To hit lightly and repeatedly with the flat of the hand to make smooth or flat
    I patted the cookie dough into shape.
    • 1900 May 17, L[yman] Frank Baum, chapter 23, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Geo[rge] M[elvin] Hill Co., →OCLC:
      Before they went to see Glinda, however, they were taken to a room of the Castle, where Dorothy washed her face and combed her hair, and the Lion shook the dust out of his mane, and the Scarecrow patted himself into his best shape, and the Woodman polished his tin and oiled his joints.
  3. (UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) To stroke or fondle (an animal). Compare pet.
    Do you want to pat the cat?
  4. To gently rain.
Derived terms
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Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Adjective

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pat (comparative more pat, superlative most pat)

  1. Exactly suitable, fitting, apt; timely, convenient, opportune, ready for the occasion; especially of things spoken.
    a pat expression
    • 1788, William Cowper, Pity For Poor Africans 17–20:
      Your scruples and arguments bring to my mind a story so pat, you may think it is coin’d, on purpose to answer you, out of my mint; but, I can assure you, I saw it in print.
    • 1862, John Williamson Palmer, Stonewall Jackson's Way :
      Come, stack arms, Men! Pile on the rails; stir up the campfire bright; no matter if the canteen fails, we'll make a roaring night. Here Shenandoah brawls along, there burly Blue Ridge echoes strong, to swell the Brigade's rousing song, of “Stonewall Jackson’s Way.”
      We see him now — the old slouched hat cocked o’er his eye askew, the shrewd, dry smile, the speech so pat, so calm, so blunt, so true.
  2. Trite, being superficially complete, lacking originality.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:hackneyed
    • 1987 August 15, Laurie Sherman, “What's A Dyke To Do? A Lesbian Reluctantly Enters The Age Of Safe Sex”, in Gay Community News, volume 15, number 5, page 11:
      While most AIDS activists and researchers I spoke with agreed I shouldn't offer pat safe/unsafe categories, let me share some pretty widely accepted information.
    • 2010 May 22, “Jobs and the Class of 2010”, in The New York Times‎[1], →ISSN:
      The pat answer is that college students should consider graduate school as a way to delay a job search until things turn around, and that more high school students should go to college to improve their prospects.
    • 2021 July 14, A. A. Dowd, “Space Jam: A New Legacy is one big, witless commercial for Warner Bros properties”, in The A.V. Club‎[2]:
      Space Jam: A New Legacy takes almost nothing but wrong turns, all leading to a glittering CGI trash heap of cameos, pat life lessons, and stale internet catchphrases.
    • 2021, Kate Crawford, chapter 2, in Atlas of AI […] , →ISBN:
      Pat responses from management seemed to be multiple variations on the theme of “We value your feedback.”
Derived terms
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Translations
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Adverb

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pat (comparative more pat, superlative most pat)

  1. Opportunely, in a timely or suitable way.
  2. Perfectly.
    He has the routine down pat.
  3. Straight, right, exactly, precisely.
    • 1922 September 22, “At the Wauwatosa Table”, in City Club News, volume viii, number 2, Milwaukee, page 7:
      Wauwa Pease says of the strategic position of the Pirates in the dining room: “They have taken the table near the upper doorway so they can make a speedy exit in case their lair is raided.” Of course, the Wauwas stand pat in the middle of the dining room, having nothing to fear.
    • 1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros‎[3], London: Jonathan Cape, page 8:
      His nose sitteth flat on the face of him as it were a dab of clay, and I can see pat up his nostrils a summer day’s journey into his head.
    • 1962, Newsweek:
      Candidates in gubernatorial campaigns must stand pat in the middle, trying to push their rivals off the center line, charging the opponent with either left or right extremism.
    • 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa, A Month and a Day, page 112:
      In Ogoni[land], Shell locations lie pat in the middle of villages, in front and back gardens – and that should lay a particular responsibility on Shell to be absolutely cautious in its operations.
Translations
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See also

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Etymology 2

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Noun

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pat (plural pats)

  1. Clipping of patent.
  2. (knitting) Clipping of pattern.
    • 2012, Kari Cornell, Knitting Sweaters from around the World, page 52:
      Work in pat to next underarm marker, sm, place next st on holder […]

Etymology 3

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Clipping of patrician.

Adjective

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pat (comparative more pat, superlative most pat)

  1. (slang) Upper-class, nobby.

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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Albanian

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Alternative variant of participles patur, pasë, pasur. See pata (“I had”) (aorist form of kam (“I have”)) for more.

Pronunciation

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Participle

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pat

  1. participle of kam (present)
  2. participle of pata (aorist)
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Aromanian

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Latin patior. Compare Daco-Romanian păți.

Verb

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pat first-singular present indicative (past participle pãtsitã)

  1. to experience, undergo (something bad, unpleasant, unexpected, etc.)
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Bakung

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Etymology

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From Proto-North Sarawak *əpat, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *əpat, from Proto-Austronesian *Səpat.

Numeral

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pat

  1. four

Bariai

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Noun

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pat

  1. stone

References

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Belait

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Etymology

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From Proto-North Sarawak *əpat, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *əpat, from Proto-Austronesian *Səpat.

Numeral

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pat

  1. four

Bintulu

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Etymology

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From Proto-North Sarawak *əpat, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *əpat, from Proto-Austronesian *Səpat.

Numeral

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pat

  1. four

Bunun

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Etymology

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From Proto-Austronesian *Səpat.

Numeral

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pat

  1. four

Central Melanau

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Central Melanau cardinal numbers
 <  3 4 5  > 
    Cardinal : pat

Etymology

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From Proto-North Sarawak *əpat, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *əpat, from Proto-Austronesian *Səpat.

Numeral

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pat

  1. four

Chinese

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Etymology 1

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Pronunciation

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Classifier

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pat

  1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) Alternative form of 坺 (pet6)

Etymology 2

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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pat

  1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) Alternative form of 噼 (pet1)

Chuj

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Noun

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pat

  1. house

Chuukese

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Adjective

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pat

  1. cold

Czech

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Via German Patt and French pat, from Italian patta.[1]

Noun

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pat m inan

  1. (chess) stalemate
  2. stalemate (blocked situation)
Declension
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Declension of pat (hard masculine inanimate)
singular plural
nominative pat paty
genitive patu patů
dative patu patům
accusative pat paty
vocative pate paty
locative patu patech
instrumental patem paty

Etymology 2

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Noun

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pat f

  1. genitive plural of pata

References

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  1. ^ Jiří Rejzek (2007) “pat”, in Český etymologický slovník (in Czech), Leda

Further reading

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  • “pat”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
  • “pat”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

Danish

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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pat c

  1. stalemate
  2. alternative form of patte (“teat”)

Verb

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pat

  1. imperative of patte (“to suck”)

Dutch

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Borrowed from French pat, from Italian patta.

Noun

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pat n (uncountable)

  1. (chess) tie, draw, stalemate
Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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Noun

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pat c (plural patten, diminutive patje n)

  1. (cycling) the slot in the frame that accepts the axle of the wheel; dropout

Eskayan

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Numeral

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pat

  1. four

French

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Italian patta (“tie, draw”), influenced by mat (“mate”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pat m (plural pats)

  1. (chess) stalemate

Descendants

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  • → German: Patt
  • → Greek: πατ (pat)
  • → Polish: pat
  • → Russian: пат (pat)
  • → Serbo-Croatian: pat
  • → Slovak: pat

Further reading

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Haitian Creole

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From French pâte.

Noun

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pat

  1. dough
  2. paste
  3. shoe polish
  4. toothpaste

Etymology 2

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Contraction

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pat

  1. Contraction of pa te.
    Li pat di m sa. ― She didn't tell me that.

References

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  • Targète, Jean and Urciolo, Raphael G. Haitian Creole-English dictionary (1993; →ISBN)

Hokkien

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For pronunciation and definitions of pat – see 捌.
(This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 捌).

Iban

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Etymology

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Inherited from Proto-Malayic *pahət, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *paqət (“chisel”).

Noun

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pat

  1. chisel
  2. gouge
  3. tapping knife

Derived terms

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References

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  • Scott, N. C. (1956) A Dictionary of Sea Dayak‎[4], School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

Icelandic

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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pat n (genitive singular pats, no plural)

  1. gesticulation, gesture

Declension

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Declension of pat (sg-only neuter)
singular
indefinite definite
nominative pat patið
accusative pat patið
dative pati patinu
genitive pats patsins
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Anagrams

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Indonesian

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Numeral

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pat

  1. (chiefly slang) Clipping of empat.

Javanese

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Old Javanese pat, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *əpat, from Proto-Austronesian *Səpat.

Numeral

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pat

  1. four

Kapampangan

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Etymology

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Inherited from Proto-Philippine [Term?], from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *paqət.

Noun

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pát

  1. chisel (for woodworking)

References

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  • Parker, Luther (1905) An English-Spanish-Pampango Dictionary: Together with Idioms, Common Conversation, and an Abridgment of English Grammar (Grammar in a Nutshell), Various Uses of Words, Similar Words, Synonyms, Abbreviations, etc., etc.‎[5], Manila: American Book and News Co., Publishers

Krio

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Etymology

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From English part.[1]

Noun

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pât

  1. part, portion, segment
  2. role (part played by actor)
  3. separation of hair of head with comb

Verb

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pât

  1. to part, to separate, to divide
  2. to separate hair of head with comb

References

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  1. ^ Fyle, Clifford N., Jones, Eldred D. (1980) A Krio-English dictionary, USA: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 284

Lamaholot

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Etymology

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From Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *əpat, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *əpat, from Proto-Austronesian *Səpat.

Numeral

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pat

  1. four

Latin

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Verb

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pāt

  1. third-person singular perfect active indicative of pāscō

Latvian

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Particle

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pat

  1. even

Lithuanian

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Etymology

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Probably derived from Proto-Indo-European *pótis (“ruler; husband”), taking an archaic meaning of "self", with semantic shift "self" > "same" > "very". Compare also Hittite [script needed] (-pat).[1]

Particle

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pàt (indeclinable)

  1. very, right (to emphasize location)
    čia pat ― right here
    iš pat dugno ― from the very bottom
  2. very, right (to emphasize time)
    dabar pat ― right now
    iki pat saulėlydžio ― right until sunset
  3. very, same (to emphasize sameness)
    tas pat žmogus ― the very person
    tokia pat spalva ― the same color (literally, “just such a color”)

References

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  1. ^ “pat”, in Lietuvių kalbos etimologinio žodyno duomenų bazė [Lithuanian etymological dictionary database], 2007–2012

Further reading

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  • “pat”, in Lietuvių kalbos žodynas [Dictionary of the Lithuanian language], lkz.lt, 1941–2025
  • “pat”, in Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas [Dictionary of contemporary Lithuanian], ekalba.lt, 1954–2025

Livonian

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Etymology

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From Proto-Finnic *patto. Cognates include Estonian patt.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pat

  1. sin

References

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  • Lauri Kettunen (1938) Livisches Wörterbuch mit grammatischer Einleitung, Helsinki, page 277

Maguindanao

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Etymology

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From Proto-Philippine *əpat, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *əpat, from Proto-Austronesian *Səpat.

Numeral

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pat

  1. four

Maia

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Noun

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pat

  1. stone

Malay

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Malay cardinal numbers
 <  3 4 5  > 
    Cardinal : pat

Pronunciation

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Numeral

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pat (Jawi spelling ڤت)

  1. Clipping of empat.

Manggarai

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Etymology

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From Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *əpat, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *əpat, from Proto-Austronesian *Səpat.

Numeral

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pat

  1. four

Maranao

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Maranao numbers (edit)
 ←  3 4 5  → 
    Cardinal: pat

Etymology

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Akin to Maguindanao upat.

Numeral

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pat

  1. four

Marshallese

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Etymology

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From Proto-Micronesian *pasa, from Proto-Oceanic *basa, an alternative form of Proto-Oceanic *pasa.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pat

  1. swamp

References

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Murik (Malaysia)

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Etymology

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From Proto-Kayanic *pat, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *əpat, from Proto-Austronesian *Səpat.

Numeral

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pat

  1. four

Old Javanese

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Etymology

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From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *əpat, from Proto-Austronesian *Səpat.

Numeral

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pat

  1. four

Descendants

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Polish

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Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl

Etymology

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Borrowed from French pat, from Italian patta, probably from Latin pacta, plural of pactum.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pat m animal (diminutive pacik)

  1. (chess) stalemate
  2. (figuratively, by extension) stalemate (any situation that has no obvious possible movement, but does not involve any personal loss)

Declension

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Declension of pat
singular plural
nominative pat paty
genitive pata patów
dative patowi patom
accusative pata paty
instrumental patem patami
locative pacie patach
vocative pacie paty

Derived terms

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adjective
verbs

Further reading

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  • pat in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • pat in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Puyuma

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Etymology

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From Proto-Austronesian *Səpat.

Numeral

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pat

  1. four

Rejang Kayan

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Etymology

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From Proto-North Sarawak *əpat, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *əpat, from Proto-Austronesian *Səpat.

Numeral

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pat

  1. four

Rembong

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Etymology

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From Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *əpat, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *əpat, from Proto-Austronesian *Səpat.

Numeral

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pat

  1. four

Romanian

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Etymology

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Often thought to be from Greek πάτος (pátos, “path”), but also possibly from Latin pactum (“fastened, fixed, planted”), with the loss of the -p- in the normal result, *papt, explicable through dissimilation from the initial consonant; compare păta, boteza. [1]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pat n (plural paturi)

  1. bed

Declension

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Declension of pat
singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative-accusative pat patul paturi paturile
genitive-dative pat patului paturi paturilor
vocative patule paturilor
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References

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  1. ^ Romanian Explanatory Dictionary

References

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Sasak

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Etymology

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Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *paqət.

Noun

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pat

  1. chisel

Derived terms

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Serbo-Croatian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French pat.

Pronunciation

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  This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

Noun

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pat m (Cyrillic spelling пат)

  1. (chess) stalemate

Declension

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Declension of pat
singular plural
nominative pat patovi
genitive pata patova
dative patu patovima
accusative pat patovi
vocative pat patovi
locative patu patovima
instrumental patom patovima

Slovak

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French pat.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pat m inan (genitive singular patu, nominative plural paty, genitive plural patov, declension pattern of dub)

  1. (chess) stalemate

Declension

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Declension of pat
(pattern dub)
singularplural
nominativepatpaty
genitivepatupatov
dativepatupatom
accusativepatpaty
locativepatepatoch
instrumentalpatompatmi

Derived terms

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Further reading

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  • “pat”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2025

Toba Batak

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Noun

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pat

  1. foot

References

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  • Warneck, J. (1906). Tobabataksch-Deutsches Wörterbuch. Batavia: Landsdrukkerij, p. 146.

Tocharian B

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Etymology

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From Sanskrit बुद्ध (buddha)

Noun

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pat

  1. stupa

Volapük

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Etymology

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From French particularité.

Noun

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pat (nominative plural pats)

  1. particularity

Declension

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Declension of pat
singular plural
nominative pat pats
genitive pata patas
dative pate pates
accusative pati patis
vocative 1 o pat! o pats!
predicative 2 patu patus

1 status as a case is disputed
2 in later, non-classical Volapük only

Yucatec Maya

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Noun

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pat

  1. school shark

Zou

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Noun

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pat

  1. cotton

References

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