cătușă
Română · Thesaurus
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cătușă
Where it comes from
From a lost hypothetical word *cată or *catŭ (from Late Latin catta (“cat”) / cattus), with the diminutive suffix -ușă added later. It was once attested in an old gloss with the now obsolete meaning 'cat' (now replaced by pisică in modern Romanian). Additionally, the original meaning is also preserved in some place names, such as Dealul-Cătușii, Cătușa, and Căteasca.
Compare Aromanian cãtushi, which has preserved the original sense. The unique development of the current meaning may have been caused by the association of cat paws or feet (those having stripes or different colours than the rest of the body's fur) with manacles placed around the wrist. Alternatively, the current meaning could have been a semantic influence from neighbouring languages, such as Serbian (compare Serbo-Croatian лисице, meaning both a fox and handcuffs).
In English
- handcuff ring of a locking fetter for the hand
Talk about this word "cătușă." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/ro/c%C4%83tu%C8%99%C4%83. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. cătușă. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/ro/c%C4%83tu%C8%99%C4%83 "cătușă." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/ro/c%C4%83tu%C8%99%C4%83.Cite this
@misc{ca_tus_a_2026,
title = {cătușă},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/ro/c%C4%83tu%C8%99%C4%83},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
