chatty

English

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃæti/, [ˈt͡ʃæɾi]

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æti

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Middle English cheteren, chiteren (Imitative)der.

Middle English chateren

English chatterclip.

English chat

Proto-Indo-European *-kos

Proto-Germanic *-gaz

Proto-West Germanic *-g

Old English -iġ

Middle English -y

English -y

English chatty

From chat (“informal conversation”) + -y.

Adjective

chatty (comparative chattier, superlative chattiest)

1. (informal) Of a person, chatting a lot or fond of chatting.
   • 2019 September 9, Kathryn Vasel, “Burnout is a big deal. Here’s how managers can spot it”, in CNN‎^[1], Atlanta, Ga.: Warner Bros. Discovery, archived from the original on 19 June 2025:

     When a typically chatty employee who often participates in meetings and is engaged and enthusiastic suddenly becomes unmotivated and quieter, that person could be at risk for burnout.

   • 2025 March 5, “Ayr miles with a 'Spirit of Scotland'”, in RAIL, number 1030, page 43:

     Our ticket is checked after departure by a chatty guard.

2. (informal) Of a text or speech, expressed in a conversational style.
3. (computing) Supplying more information than necessary; verbose.

   Chatty error messages may help attackers to compromise your server.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:talkative

Derived terms

• chattily
• chattiness
• chit-chatty
• unchatty

Translations

chatting a lot or fond of chatting — see also loquacious

• Arabic: ثَرْثَار (ar) (ṯarṯār)
• Armenian: լեզվանի (hy) (lezvani)
• Bulgarian: бъбри́в (bg) (băbrív), приказли́в (bg) (prikazlív)
• Catalan: xerraire (ca)
• Czech: povídavý, upovídaný (cs)
• Esperanto: parolema
• Finnish: puhelias (fi), suulas (fi)
• French: bavard (fr), loquace (fr)
• German: geschwätzig (de), gesprächig (de), redselig (de), mit losem Mundwerk (postpositioned), mitteilsam (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: λάλος (lálos)

• Hungarian: csevegő (hu), beszédes (hu), fecsegő (hu)
• Irish: briosc-chainteach, brioscghlórach, cainteach, canmhar
• Italian: loquace (it)
• Japanese: 口数の多い (くちかずのおおい, kuchikazunoōi)
• Ladino: avlaston
• Latin: loquax (la)
• Latvian: runīgs, valodīgs, mutīgs, pļāpīgs
• Luxembourgish: mauleg
• Māori: kōtetetete
• Russian: болтли́вый (ru) (boltlívyj)
• Spanish: charlador, conversador (es), parlanchín (es)
• Tày: bắc bắm
• Yakut: лахсыыр (laqsïïr)

expressed in a conversational style

• Bulgarian: разгово́рен (bg) (razgovóren)
• Finnish: tuttavallinen (fi)
• German: locker erzählt

Etymology 2

Etymology tree

English chat

Proto-Indo-European *-kos

Proto-Germanic *-gaz

Proto-West Germanic *-g

Old English -iġ

Middle English -y

English -y

English chatty

From chat (“louse”) + -y.

Adjective

chatty (comparative chattier, superlative chattiest)

1. (UK, Australia, New Zealand, dated or dialect) Infested with lice; or, (figuratively) dirty, worn or of poor quality; lousy.
   • 2014, Ian Robson, “Fenham residents campaign against plans to replace wall with wooden fence”, The Chronicle:

     Now there are plans to put up a cheap and chatty wooden fence which will not provide anything like the security the old wall did and it will not have the same character.

Etymology 3

Noun

chatty (plural chatties)

1. Alternative form of chattee (“Indian clay pot”).