clowder

English

Etymology

A variation, recorded since 1801, of clutter, itself from clot, from Old English clott (“round mass, lump”), from Proto-Germanic *klūtaz (hence cognate with Dutch kloot (“ball, testicle”), Danish klods (“a block, lump”) and German Klotz (“lump, block”)).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈklaʊ̯dɚ/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈklaʊ̯də/
• Homophone: clouder

Noun

clowder (plural clowders)

1. A group of cats or other small felines.
   • 1984 15 April, Nelson Bryant, “Bevies of Terms Befuddle Prides”, in The New York Times:

     A Brooklyn friend who persists in feeding the host of creatures - including me - who appear at her door will be delighted to know that the most nonchalant recipients of her largesse may be referred to as a clowder of cats.

   • 2007, Kathryn Soper, Cat Wrangling Made Easy:

     Real cat fights are rare in established clowders. So instead of risking serious injury, cats resort to menace and threats.

   • 2010, The Big Bang Theory, episode “The Zazzy Substitution”

     Leonard: You’re clearly upset about Amy being gone, and you’re trying to replace her with a bunch of cats.

     Sheldon: Clowder.

     Leonard: What?

     Sheldon: A group of cats is a clowder. Or a glaring. It’s the kind of thing you ought to know now that we have one.

   • 2011, M.D. Pueppke, Fuzzy the Cat, The One and Only, “Getting on terms with the terms”

     How ‛bout organizing a party of clowder chowder. You know, big servings of chowder for the cat clowder.

Synonyms

• (collective noun for “cats”): glaring

Hyponyms

• (collective noun for “cats”): kindle (group of kittens)

Translations

group of cats

• Esperanto: kataro

See also

• pride (for big felines)
• Appendix:English collective nouns

References

• Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006. 12 Oct. 2006. Dictionary.com article
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “clowder”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• wordcel, crowled