Tabby traces from Arabic ʿattābī, a silk named after a Baghdad quarter, to English where the fabric's striped pattern gave its name to striped cats.
A domestic cat with a distinctive coat pattern of stripes, swirls, or spots on a lighter background
Tabby arrived in English through a chain of textile trade. The word entered French as tabis and English as tabi or tabby in the 16th century, denoting a rich watered silk. This came from Medieval Latin attābī, from Arabic ʿattābī, meaning a type of striped silk