What grammatical gender and number is the word "cat"? - briefly
The word "cat" is grammatically neutral in English and can be singular or plural depending on context.
What grammatical gender and number is the word "cat"? - in detail
The word "cat" in English is a noun that does not have grammatical gender, as the English language generally lacks a system of grammatical gender for nouns. Unlike languages such as Spanish, French, or German, where nouns are assigned masculine, feminine, or neuter genders, English nouns are neutral in terms of gender. The word "cat" can refer to either a male or female feline, and its meaning is not inherently tied to gender. In terms of number, "cat" is a singular noun, referring to one feline. Its plural form is "cats," which denotes more than one feline. The pluralization follows the standard rule in English of adding an "-s" to the end of the noun to indicate plurality. Thus, "cat" remains a gender-neutral, singular noun in English, with "cats" serving as its plural counterpart.