Ratte

Meaning

rat

Gender

♀️ Feminine

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈʁatə/

Etymology

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.