English · Slang Historical

catever

Preserved but no longer current.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

A queer, or singular affair; anything poor, or very bad. From the Lingua Franca, and Italian, CATTIVO, bad. Variously spelled by the lower orders.—See KERTEVER.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

một việc kỳ lạ hoặc rất tệ

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Era: ca. 1874 (Victorian)

Where it’s used: Origin British & Irish English

Sources & notes

Historical definition reproduced from Hotten’s The Slang Dictionary (1874, public domain; Project Gutenberg #42108, retrieved 2026-07-31). Reflects the attitudes of its era.

Topics: Historical slang (1800s)

Common questions

What does “catever” mean?

A queer, or singular affair; anything poor, or very bad. From the Lingua Franca, and Italian, CATTIVO, bad. Variously spelled by the lower orders.—See KERTEVER.

Is “catever” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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