also: さびねこ · サビネコ
tortoiseshell cat
A cat with a mottled coat of black, brown, and orange, similar to a tortoiseshell pattern. The term サビ (sabi) comes from 錆 (rust), referring to the rusty orange patches.
Our tortoiseshell cat is very friendly.
It is said that most tortoiseshell cats are female.
Common hybrid spelling with katakana サビ and kanji 猫.
Hiragana-katakana mixed form; less common than サビ猫.
Kanji spelling using 錆 (rust), but the cat's coloring is not rust-related; this is ateji or a creative spelling.
Extended kanji spelling with okurigana; very rare.
All-katakana spelling, sometimes used for emphasis or in casual contexts.
サビ (sabi) is from 錆 (rust), referring to the rusty orange color in the coat. 猫 (neko) means cat. The term is a straightforward compound describing the cat's coloring.