this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2025
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How did cats ever get designated masculine?
For when referring to a male cat. A female cat would be “La Chatte”
Yes, but when the gender is unknown, cat is masculine.
It's a so-called generic masculine. If the gender is unknown, masculine is used.
However people tend to mostly use the masculine chat over the feminine chatte for the same reason English speakers prefer to use the word cat over the word pussy, when speaking about the animals.