bat
Bat (noun) means a small, flying, mostly nocturnal mammal with wings made of skin stretched between its fingers. Example: “Bats swooped out of the cave at dusk to hunt insects.”
How to use bat
Learner’s notesThe animal and the sports equipment are two completely unrelated words that just happen to be spelled the same.
Word forms
batted past tense, batted past tense, bats plural, bats plural, bats plural, bats plural, bats singular, bats singular
Fill the gap
Can you complete this real example?
_____ swooped out of the cave at dusk to hunt insects.
Etymology
The flying-mammal sense comes from a dialect word related to Middle English "bakke"; the sporting-equipment sense is unrelated, from Old French "batte," meaning a club or beater.
Related words
Frequently asked questions
What does “bat” mean?
The word “bat” means a small, flying, mostly nocturnal mammal with wings made of skin stretched between its fingers.
How do you pronounce “bat”?
“Bat” is pronounced bat (/bæt/ in IPA).
How do you use “bat” in a sentence?
Here is “bat” used in a sentence: “Bats swooped out of the cave at dusk to hunt insects.”
What part of speech is “bat”?
Depending on how it is used, “bat” can be a noun and a verb.
Where does the word “bat” come from?
The word “bat” comes from Old French. The flying-mammal sense comes from a dialect word related to Middle English "bakke"; the sporting-equipment sense is unrelated, from Old French "batte," meaning a club or beater.
Is “bat” a common word?
“Bat” is a fairly common word in modern English, usually learned at around the A1 level.
How many meanings does “bat” have?
“Bat” has 4 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: a small, flying, mostly nocturnal mammal with wings made of skin stretched between its fingers.
What is the difference between a 'bat' and a 'club' in sports?
In sports like baseball and cricket, a "bat" is the specific wooden or metal implement used to hit the ball, while "club" is the general word for a stick used to strike and is standard in golf. You hit a ball with a bat but play golf with a club.
What is the difference between a 'bat' and a 'racket'?
A bat is a solid club used to hit a ball in baseball or cricket, while a racket has a frame strung with cord and is used in tennis or badminton. Table tennis uses a small solid paddle that is also called a bat in British English.
Does the animal 'bat' and the sports 'bat' share a meaning?
No, they are unrelated words that happen to be spelled and pronounced the same. One is a small flying nocturnal mammal, and the other is a club for hitting a ball, so only context shows which is meant.
Featured in
Vocabulary lists that include bat: