noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
Received-Pronunciation:/ˈkæ.tɪ.ɡə.ɹi/
Received-Pronunciation:/-ɡɹi/
Canada, General-American:/ˈkæ.tɪˌɡɔ.ɹi/
Canada, General-American:[ˈkhæ.ɾəˌɡɔ.ɹi]
Canada, General-American:/ˈkæ.təˌɡɔ.ɹi/
Canada, General-American:[ˈkæ.ɾəˌɡɔ.ɹi]
Australian:/ˈkæ.tɪ.ɡə.ɹi/
Australian:/-ɡə.ɹi/
Australian:[ˈkhæ.ɾɪ.ɡə.ɹi]
New-Zealand:/ˈkɛ.tɘˌɡoː.ɹi/
New-Zealand:/-ɡɘ.ɹi/
New-Zealand:/-ɡɹi/
India, North:/kæːˈʈeɡə.riː/
India, South:/ˈkæː.ʈə.ɡə.riː/
Philippines:/kaˈtɛˌɡoɹi/
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
CMU ARPABET:K AE1 T AH0 G AO2 R IY0
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
A group, often named or numbered, to which items are assigned based on similarity or defined criteria.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
This steep and dangerous climb belongs to the most difficult category.
I wouldn’t put this book in the same category as the author’s first novel.
A collection of objects, together with a transitively closed collection of composable arrows between them, such that every object has an identity arrow, and such that arrow composition is associative.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: mathematics, sciences
Examples
One well-known category has sets as objects and functions as arrows.
Just as a monoid consists of an underlying set with a binary operation "on top of it" which is closed, associative and with an identity, a category consists of an underlying digraph with an arrow composition operation "on top of it" which is transitively closed, associative, and with an identity at each object. In fact, a category's composition operation, when restricted to a single one of its objects, turns that object's set of arrows (which would all be loops) into a monoid.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
a general concept that marks divisions or coordinations in a conceptual scheme
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: concept, conception, construct
Narrower terms: kind, sort, form, variety, pigeonhole, rubric, way
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥-th2der.? Proto-Hellenic *kətá Ancient Greek κᾰτᾰ́ (kătắ) Ancient Greek κᾰτᾰ- (kătă-) Proto-Indo-European *h2ger- Proto-Indo-European *h2goréh2 Proto-Hellenic *agorā́ Ancient Greek ᾰ̓γορᾱ́ (ăgorā́) Ancient Greek -εύς (-eús) Ancient Greek -εύω (-eúō) Ancient Greek ἀγορεύω (agoreúō) Ancient Greek κᾰτήγορος (kătḗgoros) Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *-eyéti Proto-Indo-European *-esyéti Proto-Indo-European *-éh1ti Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éh1yeti Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Ancient Greek -έω (-éō) Ancient Greek κᾰτηγορέω (kătēgoréō) Proto-Indo-European *-h2 Proto-Indo-European *-éh2 Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh2 Proto-Hellenic *-íā Ancient Greek -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā) Ancient Greek κᾰτηγορῐ́ᾱ (kătēgorĭ́ā)bor. Late Latin catēgoriader. Middle French categorie French catégoriebor. Middle English English category Late Middle English, borrowed from French catégorie, from Middle French categorie, from Late Latin catēgoria (“class of predicables”), from Ancient Greek κατηγορία (katēgoría, “head of predicables”). Doublet of categoria.
Across languages
Translations
151 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Afrikaans:
kategorie
— group
Albanian:
kategori
— group
Arabic:
فِئَة
(fiʔa)
— group
Armenian:
կատեգորիա
(kategoria)
— group
Armenian:
կարգ
(karg)
— group
Armenian:
ստորոգում
(storogum)
— group
Asturian:
categoría
— group
Azerbaijani:
kateqoriya
— group
Basque:
kategoria
— group
Belarusian:
катэго́рыя
(katehóryja)
— group
Bengali:
বিষয়শ্রেণী
(biśoẏosreni)
— group
Bulgarian:
катего́рия
(kategórija)
— group
Burmese:
မျိုး
(myui:)
— group
Burmese:
ဂိုဏ်း
(guin:)
— group
Catalan:
categoria
— group
Chinese Mandarin:
類別 /类别
(lèibié)
— group
Chinese Mandarin:
分類 /分类
(fēnlèi)
— group
Chinese Mandarin:
範疇 /范畴
(fànchóu)
— group
Czech:
kategorie
— group
Danish:
kategori
— group
Dutch:
categorie
— group
Esperanto:
kategorio
— group
Estonian:
kategooria
— group
Finnish:
luokka
— group
Finnish:
kategoria
— group
French:
catégorie
— group
Galician:
categoría
— group
Georgian:
კატეგორია
(ḳaṭegoria)
— group
German:
Kategorie
— group
Greek:
κατηγορία
(katigoría)
— group
Ancient Greek:
κατηγορία
(katēgoría)
— group
Hawaiian:
mahele
— group
Hebrew:
סוּג
(sug)
— group
Hindi:
वर्ग
(varg)
— group
Hindi:
श्रेणी
(śreṇī)
— group
Hungarian:
kategória
— group
Icelandic:
flokkur
— group
Ido:
kategorio
— group
Igbo:
òtù
— group
Irish:
catagóir
— group
Italian:
categoria
— group
Japanese:
部門
(bumon)
— group
Japanese:
分類
(bunrui)
— group
Japanese:
種別
(shubetsu)
— group
Japanese:
範疇
(hanchū)
— group
Japanese:
カテゴリ
— group
Karakalpak:
kategoriya
— group
Kashmiri:
وَرگ
(varg)
— group
Kazakh:
санат
(sanat)
— group
Khmer:
ចំពូក
(cɑmpuuk)
— group
Khmer:
ប្រភេទ
(prɑɑpheit)
— group
Korean:
부문
(bumun)
— group
Korean:
분류
(bullyu)
— group
Korean:
종별
(jongbyeol)
— group
Korean:
범주
(beomju)
— group
Korean:
카테고리
(kategori)
— group
Kyrgyz:
категория
(kategoriya)
— group
Lao:
ຊະນິດ
(sa nit)
— group
Lao:
ຫມວດ
(mūat)
— group
Lao:
ປະເພດ
(pa phēt)
— group
Latin:
categoria
— group
Latvian:
kategorija
— group
Lithuanian:
kategorija
— group
Macedonian:
категорија
(kategorija)
— group
Macedonian:
видоред
(vidored)
— group
Malayalam:
വർഗ്ഗം
(vaṟggaṁ)
— group
Malayalam:
തരം
(taraṁ)
— group
Māori:
rōpū
— group
Māori:
kāwai
— group
Marathi:
वर्ग
(varga)
— group
Mongolian:
ангилал
(angilal)
— group
Norwegian Bokmål:
kategori
— group
Norwegian Nynorsk:
kategori
— group
Pannonian Rusyn:
катеґория
(kategorija)
— group
Iranian Persian:
رَدِه
(rade)
— group
Iranian Persian:
رَسْتِه
(raste)
— group
Iranian Persian:
کَتِگوری
(kategori)
— group
Iranian Persian:
طَبَقِه
(tabaġe)
— group
Iranian Persian:
دَسْتِه
(daste)
— group
Iranian Persian:
مَقولِه
(maġule)
— group
Iranian Persian:
گُروه
(goruh)
— group
Iranian Persian:
نُوع
(now')
— group
Polish:
kategoria
— group
Portuguese:
categoria
— group
Quechua:
katiguriya
— group
Romanian:
categorie
— group
Russian:
катего́рия
(kategórija)
— group
Scottish Gaelic:
gnè
— group
Scottish Gaelic:
seòrsa
— group
Serbo-Croatian:
катего̀рија
— group
Serbo-Croatian:
kategòrija
— group
Sicilian:
catigurìa
— group
Sicilian:
catiggurìa
— group
Slovak:
kategória
— group
Slovene:
kategorija
— group
Spanish:
categoría
— group
Swedish:
kategori
— group
Tajik:
гурӯҳ
(gurüh)
— group
Tajik:
категория
(kategoriya)
— group
Tajik:
рада
(rada)
— group
Tatar:
төркем
(törkem)
— group
Thai:
ประเภท
(bprà-pêet)
— group
Thai:
หมวดหมู่
(mùuat-mùu)
— group
Turkish:
kategori
— group
Ottoman Turkish:
صنف
(sınf, sınıf)
— group
Turkmen:
kategoriýa
— group
Ukrainian:
катего́рія
(katehórija)
— group
Urdu:
زُمْرَہ
(zumra)
— group
Uyghur:
تۈر
(tür)
— group
Uyghur:
كاتېگورىيە
(katëgoriye)
— group
Uzbek:
turkum
— group
Uzbek:
kategoriya
— group
Vietnamese:
thể loại
— group
Yakut:
категория
(kategoriya)
— group
Yiddish:
קאַטעגאָריע
(kategorye)
— group
Yoruba:
ìsọ̀rí
— group
Zazaki:
kategoriy
— group
Zazaki:
réz
— group
Zazaki:
kategoriye
— group
Afrikaans:
kategorie
— collection in math
Arabic:
فِئَة
(fiʔa)
— collection in math
Armenian:
կատեգորիա
(kategoria)
— collection in math
Catalan:
categoria
— collection in math
Chinese Mandarin:
範疇 /范畴
(fànchóu)
— collection in math
Czech:
kategorie
— collection in math
Danish:
kategori
— collection in math
Dutch:
categorie
— collection in math
Finnish:
kategoria
— collection in math
French:
catégorie
— collection in math
Galician:
categoría
— collection in math
German:
Kategorie
— collection in math
Greek:
κατηγορία
(katigoría)
— collection in math
Hebrew:
מַחְלָקָה f קָטֵגוֹרְיָה
(makhlaká)
— collection in math
Icelandic:
ríki
— collection in math
Irish:
catagóir
— collection in math
Irish:
earnáil
— collection in math
Italian:
categoria
— collection in math
Japanese:
圏
(ken)
— collection in math
Korean:
범주
(beomju)
— collection in math
Central Kurdish:
ھاوپۆل
(hawpol)
— collection in math
Macedonian:
категорија
(kategorija)
— collection in math
Macedonian:
видоред
(vidored)
— collection in math
Polish:
kategoria
— collection in math
Portuguese:
categoria
— collection in math
Romanian:
categorie
— collection in math
Russian:
катего́рия
(kategórija)
— collection in math
Sicilian:
catigurìa
— collection in math
Spanish:
categoría
— collection in math
Swedish:
kategori
— collection in math
Ukrainian:
катего́рія
(katehórija)
— collection in math
