A cat with a striped, mottled, or brindled coat pattern; also refers to the distinctive striped pattern itself.
From French 'tabis,' ultimately from Arabic 'attabiya,' referring to a striped silk fabric made in the Attabiya district of Baghdad. The word transferred from describing striped cloth to striped cats by the 17th century.
This word traveled from medieval Baghdad's textile markets to modern pet stores, showing how trade routes carried not just goods but vocabulary. It's remarkable that when we call a cat 'tabby,' we're using a word that originally described luxury silk fabric from the Islamic Golden Age.
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