LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
adjectivefirst/second-declension adjective

catus

catus (feminine cata, neuter catum)
Classical[ˈka.tʊs]Ecclesiastical[ˈkaː.tus]

Meaning

  1. adjectiveclever, intelligent, sagacious, clear-thinking
  2. adjectivecunning, crafty, sly
  3. adjectivearchaicshrill, sharp, clear-sounding

Choosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms

Sapiens · Prudens · Callidus · Scitus · Solers · Cordatus · Catus

1. Sapiens (from σήπω) is the person who chooses right objects, from ennobling views, and pursues them with quietness of mind; prudens and callidus denote the person who chooses right means, and regulates them with circumspection; prudentia is a natural judiciousness, pervading a man’s whole nature: calliditas, an acquired knowledge of the world and of men, gained by experience and practice. Cic. Fr. Scaur. 5. Hominis prudentis natura, callidi usu, doctrina eruditi. 2. Prudens is the person who has accurate practical views, in opp. to stultus; scitus, who has tact, mother-wit, and the faculty of combination; solers, who possesses practical genius and inventive power; cordatus, who has his head in the right place, in opp. to excors; catus, who discovers and knows secret means and ways. (v. 114.)

Declension

singular
formmasculinefeminineneuter
nominativecatuscatacatum
genitivecatīcataecatī
dativecatōcataecatō
accusativecatumcatamcatum
ablativecatōcatācatō
vocativecatecatacatum
plural
formmasculinefeminineneuter
nominativecatīcataecata
genitivecatōrumcatārumcatōrum
dativecatīscatīscatīs
accusativecatōscatāscata
ablativecatīscatīscatīs
vocativecatīcataecata

Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book

Cato Uticensis ortus erat a Catone Censorio
Cato of Utica was a direct descendant of Cato the Censor.

cătus, a, um, adj. root ka-; Sanscr. ça-, to whet, sharpen; cf. cos, cautes, cuneus; Sabine, = acutus, acc. to Varr. L. L. 7, § 46, p. 90 Bip.. *
I. Sharp to the hearing, clear-sounding, shrill (cf. acutus, 2.): jam cata signa fere sonitum dare voce parabant, Enn. ap. Varr. l. l. (Ann. 447 Vahl.). —
II. Transf. to intellectual objects, in a good and bad sense.
A. In a good sense, clear-sighted, intelligent, sagacious, wise, opp. stultus (in prose probably never naturalized; hence Cic., in prose, adds ut ita dicam; v. the foll.): catus Aelius Sextus, Enn. ap. Cic. Tusc. 1, 9, 18 (Ann. v. 335 Vahl.); Plaut. Most. 1, 3, 29; id. Ps. 2, 3, 15; Ter. And. 5, 2, 14 Don. and Ruhnk.; Hor. C. 1, 10, 3: prudens et, ut ita dicam, catus, Cic. Leg. 1, 16, 45.—Constr. with inf.: jaculari, Hor. C. 3, 12, 10.—With gen.: legum, Aus. Mos. 400.—Of abstract things: dicta, Enn. Ann. 519 Vahl.: consilium, Plaut. Ep. 2, 2, 75.—
B. In a bad sense, sly, crafty, cunning, artful ( = callidus, astutus): cata est et callida, Plaut. Pers. 4, 4, 71; so id. Poen. 5, 2, 147; id. Most. 5, 2, 21; id. Trin. 3, 2, 51; Hor. Ep. 2, 2, 39.—Adv.: cătē, conform. to II. A.: sapienter, docte et cordate et cate, Plaut. Poen. 1, 1, 3; id. Men. 2, 3, 61; Cic. Arat. 304.—Comp. and sup. not in use in the adj. or in the adv.
cătus, i, m.,
I. a male cat (post-class.), Pall. Mart. 9, 4; scanned, cātus, Poët. ap. Anth. Lat. 5, p. 162, 3 al.

Origins

From Proto-Italic *katos, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱh₃tós (“sharpened”), from *ḱeh₃- (“to sharpen”). Cognate with Sanskrit शित (śitá-, “whetted, sharpened, slender”).

Quick answers

What does catus mean in Latin?
catus, a adjective, means “clever, intelligent, sagacious, clear-thinking; cunning, crafty, sly; shrill, sharp, clear-sounding”.
How do you pronounce catus?
In classical Latin, [ˈka.tʊs]; in ecclesiastical (church) Latin, [ˈkaː.tus].