Cattywampus
/ˌkæt.iˈwɑːm.pəs/noun
Adjective or adverb meaning askew, crooked, or out of alignment.
Did you know?Cattywampus is a classic example of a word whose exact origin is uncertain, but it likely arose in 19th-century American English as an expressive, made-up-sounding form rather than from any ancient occult root.
Etymological Timeline
19th Century
English
cattywampus
“Crooked, askew, or diagonally placed; later also used for something chaotic or in disarray.”
19th Century
American English
catawampus
“An earlier variant spelling and pronunciation with the same sense of being skewed or out of alignment.”
19th Century
American English
cattywampus
“Likely influenced by playful reduplication and dialectal sound patterns in colloquial speech.”
Modern English
English
cattywampus
“Still used informally to mean crooked, lopsided, or all mixed up.”
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