To squat is to bend your knees and lower your body so you are close to the ground, balancing on your feet. It can also mean to live in a building or on land without permission.
From Old French “esquater” meaning “to press down, flatten,” probably from a Germanic root. The physical idea of lowering and pressing down led to the modern posture meaning.
The body position of squatting is one of the most natural human resting poses, even though many modern chairs have replaced it. In slang, “you don’t know squat” means “you know nothing at all,” as if your knowledge were squashed down to zero.
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