Cats are called “puss” or “pussy” because “puss” was an old pet name and call word for cats in several European languages, and “pussy” grew out of that as a cute, affectionate form. Over time, the same word picked up extra, more adult meanings in English, but the original cat meaning came first.

Quick Scoop

Old cat name “puss”

  • In early modern English, people used “puss” as a common name or call for a cat, like saying “here, kitty!” today.
  • Similar cat-calling words show up across Germanic languages, like Dutch poes and Middle Low German pūse , all used to address or call a cat.

How “puss” became “pussy”

  • Adding “-y” to a short word is a typical English way to make it sound cuter or more affectionate (think “dog” → “doggy”), so “puss” naturally became “pussy” and “pussycat.”
  • Nursery rhymes like “Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been?” helped lock “pussycat” in as a sweet, child-friendly word for a cat.

Later adult and slang meanings

  • By the 17th century, “puss” and “pussy” also started being used for girls or women, at first as pet names, then with more sexual and sometimes insulting undertones.
  • From there, the word developed its now-common vulgar sense for female genitalia and for calling someone weak or cowardly, which is why it can sound rude today, even though the original cat meaning is older.

Today’s mix of cute and crude

  • Modern English carries all these layers at once: in children’s contexts “pussycat” is still a gentle, cozy word, but “pussy” on its own is usually heard as sexual or offensive depending on tone and setting.
  • In online culture and memes, people often lean on the double meaning—using literal cats to soften or joke about the more explicit sense—so the term keeps circulating in both cute and edgy ways.

TL;DR: The cat sense came first from “puss,” a traditional call name for cats; the rude meanings arrived centuries later and just never left.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.