Vat

How to spell vat

3 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce vat

What does vat mean?

1. nounA large tank or tub used to hold liquid, especially during brewing, dyeing, or other industrial processes.

Vat in a sentence

• The brewery stored the cooling beer in a huge steel vat.

• Workers scrubbed the fermentation vat before the next batch began.

Where does vat come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This short word descends from the Old English fæt, meaning a vessel, cask, or container, and it traces back to a Germanic root shared by the Dutch vat and the German Fass, both still meaning 'barrel' or 'cask'. The standard Old English form actually began with an 'f' sound, but the modern spelling with 'v' comes from the dialects of southern and southwestern England, where initial 'f' was regularly voiced into 'v'; that regional pronunciation eventually became the accepted national form. By the medieval period the word settled on its present meaning of a large open tub or tank used for holding liquids during brewing, dyeing, tanning, or other industrial soaking. Because it is so old and so simple, the spelling never accumulated the silent letters that trip people up in longer words, and the three plain letters match the sound exactly. The same Germanic family also gives us the surnames and place names tied to old cooperage and brewing trades.

How the word is built

• vat (single root, from Old English fæt meaning 'vessel' or 'cask')