Variant spelling of 'catti,' an East Asian unit of weight; also a small cat or a malicious person.
From the same Malay/Chinese origin as 'catti.' The variant spelling reflects different transliteration methods from Asian languages. Can also be diminutive of 'cat' with meaning influenced by 'catty' (malicious).
This word shows how the same term can mean an ancient weight unit AND a mean person—completely different meanings that happened to look similar!
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