How to say and use “Felis catus”

On this page I discuss how to say and use the phrase “Felis catus“. This is Latin. By convention, when Latin is written in sentences the first word is capitalised and the phrase is italicised. That’s the first complication. The second complication is that “Felis catus” is the scientific name for the domestic cat but you will also see the Latin scientific name: Felis silvestris catus used as a better and more accurate alternative.

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Felis silvestris catus being petted. Photo: Pixabay.
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Below, I pronounce the phrase and use it in three sentences. There is another complication 😕 . “Felis” can be pronounced in two different ways. However, one way is more correct than the other, I believe. The difficulty is over the ‘e’ in ‘Felis‘. Is it long or short? The Merriam-Webster dictionary online tells us that it should be said with a long ‘e’ as they write the pronunciation thus: Fe·​lis | \ ˈfēlə̇s \. The line over the ‘e’ means that it is long. In the audio file below, I say ‘Felis‘ with both a long and short ‘e’.

Please click on the following link. You’ll be taken to the audio file on a new tab/page. You’ll stay on this page. Using smartphones, you can use the back button to return. Please do as there is some useful information below the recording.

The domestic cat is a contradiction
Top photo: public domain. Bottom: Helmi Flick.

In fact, Felis silvestris catus is used by the best book that I have on the wild cat species. They mention the domestic cat because at heart they are still wild cats. The authors, Mel and Fiona Sunquist, of that book say that the scientific name for the domestic cat is: Felis silvestris catus. So, that is another complication 😕 . I would suggest that this is the preferred scientific name.

Having got that out of the way, here are some sentences where “Felis catus” is used:

  • Felis catus is the scientific name for the domestic cat.
  • What does Felis catus mean in English?
  • Is the scientific name for the domestic cat “Felis catus” or “Felis silvestris catus“?

You can see that the phrase has limited use. It is almost invariably used when discussing the domestic cat in a scientific way; usually it’s taxonomy which means its classification within the entire classification of the world’s species of animals. You’ll see the phrase used in research studies. The reports are written by scientists. Here is an example: “Although Aelurostrongylus abstrusus infections in domestic cats (Felis silvestris catus) have sporadically been reported in Colombia, there is still no data available on epidemiology nor on the biology of this neglected lungworm parasite.”

Here is a video on how to say ‘e’ under different circumstances:

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

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