What does catfood mean?
Catfood — more often written as two words, "cat food" — refers to any food prepared and marketed specifically for domestic cats. It comes in two broad forms: dry kibble, which is shelf-stable and convenient, and moist canned or pouched products, usually meat-based, which many cats prefer. Commercially produced catfood is formulated to meet feline dietary requirements, notably a high protein content and nutrients such as taurine that cats cannot synthesise adequately themselves. The term is entirely neutral in register and appears in ordinary household contexts, from shopping lists to feeding routines. It is also used figuratively in computing slang, where low-quality or hastily assembled material may be dismissed with the related expression "dogfood," though such extensions attach more often to that cousin term than to catfood itself. For anyone writing about pets, retail, or animal nutrition, it is a straightforward, useful everyday word.
nounFood prepared and sold for cats to eat, typically dry kibble or moist canned meat-based products formulated to meet feline nutritional needs.
- Food prepared and formulated for domestic cats, whether dry kibble or wet canned product.
"She stopped by the shop on her way home because the catfood was nearly gone."
"The supermarket's own-brand catfood was considerably cheaper than the premium brands."
"He opened a fresh tin of catfood and set it down beside the water bowl."
As a mass noun denoting a category of food, catfood normally has no plural. A plural such as "catfoods" appears only rarely, when distinguishing different brands or product lines.
"The store stocks several grain-free catfoods alongside its standard ranges."
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of catfood
Catfood is a transparent English compound formed from "cat," the domestic feline whose Old English ancestor was "catt," and "food," from Old English "fōda," meaning nourishment. As a compound it arose naturally alongside the modern commercial pet-food industry, which developed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; no earlier or foreign origin applies. Its sibling compound "dogfood" follows exactly the same pattern and is both older in common use and the source of the well-known computing idiom "eating your own dogfood." The closed spelling "catfood" simply reflects the general English tendency for frequently used compounds eventually to be written solid.
How catfood is actually used
Written most commonly as two words, "cat food"; the solid form "catfood" is accepted but noticeably rarer in both British and American usage. The word is neutral in register and used in everyday contexts.
Easily confused with catfood
"Cat food" (two words) is the far more common spelling of the same term; "catfood" as one word is a less frequent variant.