What Does “A Clowder of Cats” Mean?
“Clowder” is the most historically established collective noun for domestic cats, likely derived from “clodder” or “clutter,” old dialect words describing a clotted or clumped-together mass. It’s one of the few cat-related collective nouns with a reasonably traceable linguistic root, unlike some of the more mysterious entries elsewhere on this list.
Domestic cats are famously more independent than social, but clowders do form in real life, most visibly among feral and community cat colonies, where multiple cats share territory around a reliable food source. These colonies typically organize around related females and their kittens, with unrelated males ranging more widely between groups. Research into feral cat colonies has shown they can develop loose social structures, including grooming and resting together, that go beyond simple resource sharing.
Indoor multi-cat households form a much smaller, tamer version of the same idea, cats who tolerate, and sometimes genuinely enjoy, each other’s company under the right conditions.
Example: “A clowder of cats had claimed the alley behind the restaurant, fed daily by the owner.”
Other Collective Nouns for Cats
A group of cats goes by more than one name. You might also hear:
- A Cluster of Cats
- A Clutter of Cats
- A Dout of Cats
- A Dowt of Cats
- A Glaring of Cats
- A Kindle of Cats
- A Litter of Cats
Related: Collective Nouns for Mammals