catus

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈka.tus/, [ˈkät̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈka.tus/, [ˈkäːt̪us]

From the Proto-Italic *katos, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱh₃tós (“sharpened”), from *ḱeh₃- (“to sharpen”). Cognate with Sanskrit शित (śitá-, “whetted, sharpened, slender”).

catus (feminine cata, neuter catum); first/second-declension adjective

1. clever, intelligent, sagacious, clear-thinking
2. cunning, crafty, sly
3. (archaic) shrill, sharp, clear-sounding

First/second-declension adjective.

• comparative catior, superlative catissimus

• Catius
• Catō

Alternative spelling of cattus, possibly under the influence by folk-etymology of the above sense.

catus m (genitive catī); second declension

1. Alternative form of cattus (“cat”)
   • 1531, Carolus Bovillus, Caroli Bovilli Samarobrini Prouerbiorum Vulgarium:

     Amici, vt canis & catus.

     Friends, like dog and cat.

Second-declension noun.

• Catus
• Felis catus
• Felis silvestris catus

• “catus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “catus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• catus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• catus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) Cato of Utica was a direct descendant of Cato the Censor: Cato Uticensis ortus erat a Catone Censorio
    
• “catus”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray