catercorner

Catercorner also has the variants kitty-corner and catty-corner, but despite appearances, no cats were involved in the creation of this word. Cater derives from the Middle French noun quatre (or catre), which means "four." English speakers adopted the word to refer to the four-dotted side of a die—a side important in several winning combinations in dice games. Perhaps because the four spots on a die can suggest an X, cater eventually came to be used dialectically with the meaning "diagonal" or "diagonally." This cater was combined with corner to form catercorner.