tabby

1 of 3

noun (1)

tab·​by ˈta-bē 

plural tabbies

1

[tabby entry 2]

a

: a domestic cat with a striped and mottled coat

b

: a domestic cat

especially : a female cat

2

a

: a plain-woven fabric

b

archaic : a plain silk taffeta especially with moiré finish

Illustration of tabby

• tabby 1a

tabby

2 of 3

adjective

1

: striped and mottled with darker color : brindled

a tabby cat

2

: of, relating to, or made of tabby

a tabby vest

tabby

3 of 3

noun (2)

: a cement made of lime, sand or gravel, and oyster shells and used chiefly along the coast of Georgia and South Carolina in the 17th and 18th centuries

Examples of tabby in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

And in the 1963 Czech cult classic The Cassandra Cat, a tabby exposes the truth by making people’s skin change color based on their moral character — red for love, orange or violet for hypocrisy. —Steve Garbarino, HollywoodReporter, 24 Oct. 2025

Shared in October by u/pizzalogdong, the pictures show the gray tabby comfortably chilling inside a carrier, as her kittens are wrapped up in warm blankets by the poster. —Maria Azzurra Volpe, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Oct. 2025

Adjective

The hilarious clip, shared in July on TikTok under the username @chancebeforetherapper, shows the poster following the tabby cat, Stripe, around her dad’s house, trying to become friends, but the cat doesn’t seem to be very interested in her friendship. —Maria Azzurra Volpe, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 Oct. 2025

Think: jealousy, clinginess or unpredictable moods (looking at you, tabby cats). —Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 4 Aug. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

French tabis, from Middle French atabis, from Medieval Latin attabi, from Arabic ʽattābī, from Al-ʽAttābīya, quarter in Baghdad

Noun (2)

Gullah tabi, ultimately from Spanish tapia adobe wall

First Known Use

Noun (1)

1638, in the meaning defined at sense 2b

Adjective

1640, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Noun (2)

1775, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for tabby

• abbe
• cabbie
• cabby
• flabby
• gabby
• gaby
• scabby
• shabby

Kids Definition

tabby

noun

tab·​by

ˈtab-ē

plural tabbies

1

: a domestic cat with a striped and spotted coat

2

: a female cat

Etymology

Noun

from French tabis "a silk fabric with a lustrous wavy finish," from Latin attabi (same meaning), from Arabic 'attābī (same meaning), from Al-'Attābīya, name of a part of Baghdad where the cloth was made

Word Origin

A silk cloth with a striped or wavy pattern was once made in a section of the ancient city of Baghdad in what is now Iraq. The Arabic name for the cloth was 'attābī, from Al-'Attābīya, the name of the part of the city where it was made. Through Latin, the French borrowed this word for the cloth, calling it tabis. This word in turn became tabby in English. People saw a resemblance between the striped or wavy pattern of the silk and cats that had striped or spotted markings on their fur. Thus these cats came to be called tabby cats after the cloth.