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pet

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Appendix:Variations of "pet"

English

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /pɛt/, [pʰɛt], [pʰɛʔ], [pʰɛʔt]
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛt

Etymology 1

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Originally northern dialectal, from Scots pet (“an animal that has been tamed and is kept as a pet; a darling or favourite; a petted or spoiled child”), probably from Scottish Gaelic peata (“pet, tamed animal, spoiled child”), from Middle Irish petta, peta (“pet, lap-dog”), of uncertain origin, possibly from a pre-Indo-European substrate.[1] Compare also peat (“pet, darling, woman”), which is likely not related.

The verb is derived from the noun.

Noun

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

pet (plural pets)

  1. An animal kept as a companion or otherwise for pleasure, rather than for some practical benefit or use.
  2. (by extension) Something kept as a companion, including inanimate objects (pet rock, pet plant, etc.).
    • 2015 September 15, Toby Fox, Undertale, Linux, Microsoft Windows, OS X:
      Papyrus: This is my brother's pet rock. He always forgets to feed it. As usual, I have to take responsibility.
  3. One who is excessively loyal to a superior and receives preferential treatment.
  4. Any person or animal especially cherished and indulged; a darling.
    • 1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter XIX, in Wuthering Heights: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC:
      At first she sat silent; but that could not last: she had resolved to make a pet of her little cousin, as she would have him to be; and she commenced stroking his curls, and kissing his cheek, and offering him tea in her saucer, like a baby.
    • 1711 January 1 (Gregorian calendar), Isaac Bickerstaff [et al., pseudonyms; Richard Steele et al.], “Thursday, December 21, 1710”, in The Tatler, number 266; republished in [Richard Steele], editor, The Tatler, […], London stereotype edition, volume III, London: I. Walker and Co.;  […], 1822, →OCLC:
      the love of cronies, pets, and favourites
      The spelling has been modernized.
Synonyms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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Verb

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pet (third-person singular simple present pets, present participle petting, simple past pet or (childish) petted, past participle petted or pet)

A woman is petting this calf.
  1. (transitive) To stroke or fondle (an animal).
    I really love to pet cute puppies.
  2. (transitive, intransitive, informal) To stroke or fondle (another person) amorously.
    We started petting each other the moment we were alone.
    • 1970-1975, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure
      We kissed & petted for about 15 mins & he still wasn't hard, altho he acted like he was enjoying himself.
  3. (dated, transitive) To treat as a pet; to fondle; to indulge.
    His daughter was petted and spoiled.
    • 1919 August, P. G. Wodehouse, “Prohibition and the Drama”, in Vanity Fair, page 21:
      […] the American dramatist has had to waste most of his first act elaborately planting the information that his Mister Quex is rich, petted by Society, and altogether more spectacular than the common run of men.
  4. (archaic, intransitive) To be a pet.
  5. (archaic, intransitive) To be peevish; to sulk.
    • 1623, Owen Feltham, Resolves: Divine, Moral, Political:
      He sure is queasie stomach't that must pet, and puke, at such a trivial circumstance
Synonyms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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Adjective

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pet (not comparable)

  2. (figurative) Favourite; cherished; the focus of one's (usually positive) attention.
    a pet project
    a pet child
    The professor seemed offended by the criticism of her pet theory.
    • 1886, Frederic Harrison, The Choice of Books:
      Some young lady's pet curate.
    • 1875, William Conant Church, The Galaxy, page 141:
      Major Butler has a pet grievance and a pet aversion, which he forces on the reader in every chapter, and which becomes at last very wearisome.
    • 1991, Deborah G. Douglas, United States Women in Aviation, 1940-1985, page 9:
      In an interview with Flying magazine, Heberding commented that her pet annoyance was "the reluctance of people generally to accept a woman whether as a pilot or a preflight inspector."
    • 2002 August 2, Geoffrey Macnab, “'The rape had to be disgusting to be useful'”, in The Guardian‎[2], →ISSN:
      Discussing a favourite book, JW Dunne's An Experiment with Time—a 1927 study by an English aeronautical engineer who developed his own pet theories about dreams, perception and reality—he [Gaspar Noé] sounds like an earnest young philosophy student.
    • 2025 July 5, Philip Stafford, Akila Quinio, “Stablecoins begin to enter the mainstream with backing from Trump administration”, in FT Weekend, page 11:
      But these digital currencies […] have now become a pet project of the US administration and a hot topic in corporate boardrooms.
  3. (literally) Kept or treated as a pet.
    pet rock
  4. (obsolete) Good; ideal.
Derived terms
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Translations
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References

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  1. ^ Schrijver, Peter (2000), “Non-Indo-European Surviving in Ireland in the First Millennium AD”, in Ériu‎[1], volume 51, →JSTOR, pages 195-199

Etymology 2

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Clipping of petulance.

Noun

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pet (plural pets)

  1. A fit of petulance, a sulk, arising from the impression that one has been offended or slighted.
    • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 3, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:
      His genius at this time was of a decidedly gloomy cast. He brought his mother a tragedy, in which, though he killed sixteen people before the second act, it made her laugh so, that he thrust the masterpiece into the fire in a pet.
    • 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska, published 2005, page 105:
      There was something ludicrous, even more, unbecoming a gentleman, in leaving a friend's house in a pet, with the host's reproaches sounding in his ears, to be matched only by the bitterness of the guest's sneering retorts.
    • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 1]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:
      Buck Mulligan sat down in a sudden pet.

Verb

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pet (third-person singular simple present pets, present participle petting, simple past and past participle petted)

  1. To be petulant or upset; to have a problem with.
    • 2019, “Going Through It” (track 6), in Ignorance Is Bliss, performed by Skepta:
      Got suttin' in the glove compartment and I won't pet to use it

Etymology 3

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Clipping of petition.

Noun

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pet (plural pets)

  1. Abbreviation of petition.

Etymology 4

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Clipping of petal.

Noun

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pet (plural pets)

  1. (Ireland, Geordie) A term of endearment usually applied to women and children.

References

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See also

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Anagrams

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Ainu

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Noun

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pet (Kana spelling ペッ)

  1. river

Catalan

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Etymology

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Inherited from Latin pēditum. Compare Occitan pet, French pet, Spanish pedo.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pet m (plural pets)

  1. (colloquial) fart

Derived terms

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See also

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References

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Chuukese

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English bed.

Noun

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pet

  1. bed
    • 2010, Ewe Kapasen God, United Bible Societies, →ISBN, Luke 5:24, page 110:
      Iwe upwe pwȧr ngeni kemi pwe mi wor an ewe Noun Aramas manamanen omusano tipis won fonufan. Iwe a apasa ngeni ewe mwan mi mwök, 'Upwe erenuk, kopwe uta, kopwe eki om na pet o feinno non imwom!"
      Therefore I will show you that the Son of Man has the power of forgiving sins on earth. So he said to the sick man, 'I tell you, stand, grab your bed and go to your house!"

Dutch

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Etymology

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of uncertain origin, perhaps from french toupet[1]. earliest examples from 1806

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pet m (plural petten, diminutive petje n)

  1. cap (headwear with a peak at the front)

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • → Caribbean Javanese: pèt
  • → Indonesian: pet, peci (from the diminutive)
  • → Papiamentu: pèchi, petsje (from the diminutive)

Adjective

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pet (comparative petter, superlative petst)

  1. (slang) bad, crappy

Declension

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Declension of pet
uninflected pet
inflected pette
comparative petter
positive comparative superlative
predicative/adverbial pet petter het petst
het petste
indefinite m./f. sing. pette pettere petste
n. sing. pet petter petste
plural pette pettere petste
definite pette pettere petste
partitive pets petters —

Derived terms

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French

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Etymology 1

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Inherited from Old French pet, inherited from Latin pēditum.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pet m (plural pets)

  1. (colloquial) fart
    Synonym: vesse
Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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See the main lemma.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pet m (plural pets)

  1. (colloquial, nonstandard) clipping of pétard

Further reading

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Friulian

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Etymology

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From Latin pectus.

Noun

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pet m (plural pets)

  1. (anatomy) chest

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Indonesian

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Etymology

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From Dutch pet, probably from French toupet. Doublet of peci.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pèt (plural pet-pet)

  1. cap (headwear with a peak at the front)
    Hypernym: topi

Further reading

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Javanese

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Romanization

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pet

  1. romanization of ꦥꦼꦠ꧀

Middle French

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Noun

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pet m (plural pets)

  1. (vulgar) fart, gas, flatulence

Mizo

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Etymology

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From Proto-Kuki-Chin *pet (“to bite”).

Verb

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pet (stem II peh)

  1. to graze, eat, nibble
  2. to bite

Polish

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pety

Etymology

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(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pet m inan (diminutive pecik)

  1. (colloquial) cigarette butt
    Synonyms: kiep, niedopałek, ogarek
  2. (colloquial, derogatory) cigarette
    Synonyms: cygareta, fajek, fajka, kiep, kopeć, papieros, szlug

Declension

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Declension of pet
singular plural
nominative pet pety
genitive peta petów
dative petowi petom
accusative pet pety
instrumental petem petami
locative pecie petach
vocative pecie pety

Further reading

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  • pet in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • pet in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from English pet.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pet m (plural pets)

  1. (Brazil) pet (animal kept as a companion)
    Synonyms: animal de estimação (much more common), mascote

Derived terms

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Romansh

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Latin pectus.

Noun

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pet m (plural pets)

  1. (Puter, Vallader, anatomy) chest, thorax
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  • (Rumantsch Grischun) sain
  • (Sursilvan) sein
  • (Sutsilvan, Surmiran) sagn

Serbo-Croatian

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Serbo-Croatian numbers (edit)
50
 ←  4 5 6  → 
    Cardinal: pet
    Ordinal: peti
    Multiplier: petostruk
    Collective: petoro, petorica
    Fractional: petina

Etymology

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Inherited from Proto-Slavic *pętь.

Pronunciation

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Numeral

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pȇt (Cyrillic spelling пе̑т)

  1. five (5)

Usage notes

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  • Nouns following the numbers 5-20 are in genitive plural.
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Slovene

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Slovene numbers (edit)
50
 ←  4 5 6  → 
    Cardinal: pet
    Cardinal prefix: pet-
    Ordinal: peti
    Latinate ordinal: kvintaren
    Ordinal prefix: peto-
    Number: pet
    Digit: petka
    Digit place: petica
    Adverbial: petič
    Krat adverbial: petikrat
    Multiplier: peteren
    Krat multiplier: petkrat
    Fixed multiplier: petkraten
    Adverbial multiplier: peterno
    Multiplier verb: popeteriti
    Multiplier prefix: petern-
    Krat multiplier prefix: petkratn-
    Krat adverbial multiplier: petkratno
    Collective: petero
    Separable collective: peter
    Greek or Latinate collective: pentada
    Greek collective prefix: penta-
    Latinate collective prefix: kvinkve-
    Fractional: petina
    Fractional multiplier: petinski
    Elemental: peterica
    Number of musicians: kvintet

Etymology 1

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From Proto-Slavic *pętь

Pronunciation

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Numeral

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pẹ̑t

  1. five
Declension
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First declension (hard), fixed accent
masculine, feminine and neuter following adjectives and nouns
nom pl pẹ̑t + genitive
plural
masculine, feminine and neuter following adjectives and nouns
nominative
imenovȃlnik 		pẹ̑t + genitive
genitive
rodȋlnik 		pétih + genitive
dative
dajȃlnik 		pétim + dative
accusative
tožȋlnik 		pẹ̑t + genitive
locative
mẹ̑stnik 		pétih + locative
instrumental
orọ̑dnik 		pétimi + instrumental
(vocative)
(ogȏvorni imenovȃlnik) 		pẹ̑t + circumflex genitive
  • less common
Second declension (no endings), fixed accent
masculine, feminine and neuter following adjectives and nouns
nom pl pẹ̑t + genitive
plural
masculine, feminine and neuter following adjectives and nouns
nominative
imenovȃlnik 		pẹ̑t + genitive
genitive
rodȋlnik 		pẹ̑t + genitive
dative
dajȃlnik 		pẹ̑t + dative
accusative
tožȋlnik 		pẹ̑t + genitive
locative
mẹ̑stnik 		pẹ̑t + locative
instrumental
orọ̑dnik 		pẹ̑t + instrumental
(vocative)
(ogȏvorni imenovȃlnik) 		pẹ̑t + circumflex genitive

Noun

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pẹ̑t n

  1. number five
Declension
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Third neuter declension (no endings) , fixed accent (singularia tantum)
nom. sing. pẹ̑t
gen. sing. pẹ̑t
singular
nominative
imenovȃlnik 		pẹ̑t
genitive
rodȋlnik 		pẹ̑t
dative
dajȃlnik 		pẹ̑t
accusative
tožȋlnik 		pẹ̑t
locative
mẹ̑stnik 		pẹ̑t
instrumental
orọ̑dnik 		pẹ̑t
(vocative)
(ogȏvorni imenovȃlnik) 		pẹ̑t

To express dual and plural, the phrase število pet 'number five' is used, e.g. dve števili pet sta napisani, or, informally, also petka.


Etymology 2

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See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pȇt

  1. genitive dual/plural of peta

Further reading

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  • “pet”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran
  • “pet”, in Termania, Amebis
  • See also the general references
  1. ^ https://www.etymologiebank.nl/trefwoord/pet2
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