The quality of being catty; malice, spite, or sharp-tongued behavior.
From 'catty' (adjective) with the noun suffix '-ness,' creating an abstract noun for the quality or state of being spiteful. Emerged in the 19th century as psychological and behavioral language developed.
Cattiness as a behavior is almost exclusively attributed to women in historical writing, even though humans of all genders can be spiteful—language can reveal these biases!
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.