Ratte

Bedeutung (English)

rat

Synonyms

Maus

🐭

Hausratte

Luder

Rattus

Ratz

Ratze

Rättin

Rattenweibchen

Rattenmännchen

Wanderratte

Dialekte

Basel-Landschaft

ratt

Basel-Landschaft

ratz

St. Gallen

raz

Data provided by: Deutsch-Schweizerdeutsches Wörterbuch

Ausgesprochen als (IPA)

/ˈʁatə/

Etymologie (English)

Inherited from Mittelhochdeutsch: ratte

Inherited from Althochdeutsch: ratta

Cognate with Niederländisch: rat

Cognate with Schwedisch: råtta

Cognate with Französisch: rat

In summary

From Middle High German ratte, from Old High German ratta, rato, from Proto-West Germanic *ratt, from Proto-Germanic *rattaz (“rat”); see that entry and English rat for more. Compare also Dutch rat, Swedish råtta, French rat.
The consonantism ratta in Old High German (instead of *razza) is unexplained. One possible explanation is that the form was borrowed from Old Saxon ratta. The dialectal German variant Ratz could be reflective of an inherited Proto-Germanic form, an adaptation of the Old Saxon form, or (perhaps most likely) a later expressive derivative.