Meanings
plural rattons · alternative rare ratten
- IrelandNorthern EnglandScotlandA rat.First known use 14th c.
“A Yorkshire burr,” he affirmed, “was as much better than a Cockney’s lisp, as a bull's bellow than a ratton’s squeak.”
1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “Mr. Yorke (continued)”, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 671 more example
To dark is still used in Swaledale (Yorkshire) in the sense of to lie hid, as, 'Te rattens [rats] mun ha bin darkin whel nu [till now]; we hannot heerd tem tis last fortnith'.
1873, Richard Morris, Walter William Skeat, “Glossarial Index”, in Specimens of Early English, volumes II: From Robert of Gloucester to Gower, A.D. 1298—A.D. 1393, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 490
Origin
- Middle Frenchraton
- Anglo-Normanratoun
- Middle Englishratoun
- Englishratton
From Middle English ratoun, from Anglo-Norman ratoun and Middle French raton, corresponding to rat + -oon.
More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Middle French
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
ratton. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ratton
“ratton.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ratton. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ratton,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ratton.
Source: ratton on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.