chatty

English

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æti

Etymology 1

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 Business‎:

     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

Arabic: ثَرْثَار (ar) (ṯarṯār) Armenian: լեզվանի (hy) (lezvani) Bulgarian: бъбри́в (bg) (bǎbrív), 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) Greek: Ancient: 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 Maori: kōtetetete Russian: болтли́вый (ru) (boltlívyj) Spanish: locuaz (es), charlador, conversador (es), parlanchín (es) Tày: bắc bắm Yakut: лахсыыр (laqsıır)

expressed in a conversational style

Bulgarian: разгово́рен (bg) (razgovóren) Finnish: tuttavallinen (fi)

Etymology 2

From chat (“louse”) +‎ -y.

Adjective

chatty (comparative chattier, superlative chattiest)

1. (British, 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”).