tabby

You've likely heard this word used for a cat with stripes, swirls, spots, or fine mixed markings. That is its most common meaning, and it refers to the coat pattern, not the breed. The word also has an older meaning in cloth: a kind of watered silk with a wavy look. In some historical writing from the southeastern United States, it can also mean a shell-based building material made with lime, sand, water, and crushed oyster shells.

The term "tabby" most commonly refers to a coat pattern in cats. A cat with this pattern may have stripes, swirls, spots, or a more finely mixed look. It is not a breed by itself; many breeds and mixed-breed cats can have this kind of coat. People often think first of the familiar striped house cat, but the pattern includes several forms, such as classic, mackerel, spotted, and ticked.

The word also has an older textile meaning. It can refer to a kind of silk taffeta with a watered or wavy pattern. This sense came into English through French tabis, a word linked to Attabiy, a district of Baghdad known for such silk. Today this use is much less common than the cat meaning, but you may still see it in historical or textile contexts.

There is also a building sense of "tabby." In the coastal southeastern United States, it can mean a kind of concrete made from lime, sand, water, and crushed oyster shells. This material was used in older construction and is mostly found in historical discussions today.

So, in everyday English, this word usually points to a cat's coat pattern. In older or more specialized writing, it may instead refer to a type of silk or a shell-based building material.