What does “chatte d’Espagne” mean in French?

A chatte d’Espagne is the French name for a tricolour, or “calico,” cat — one patched in white, black and orange. The name describes the coat, not a breed, and it carries a built-in surprise: such cats are almost always female. The colour genes sit on the X chromosome, so it takes two X’s — and that’s why the term is feminine, une chatte, not the masculine un chat.

In the café the speaker points one out directly: “Elle ici, c’est une chatte d’Espagne, des chats qui ont 3 couleurs… c’est toujours des femelles” — the grammar and the genetics lining up in one breath. A truly orange-black-and-white tomcat needs a rare extra X (XXY) and is usually sterile. The same cat has other French names: chatte Isabelle and chatte écaille de tortue (“tortoiseshell”). One folk story even traces “d’Espagne” to Queen Isabella of Castile, said to have kept her three-coloured gown on until Granada fell.