The Burmese (Thai: ศุภลักษณ์ subh-bha-lak meaning fortunate, beautiful, an splendid appearance) is a breed of domesticated cats split into two subgroups: the American Burmese and the British Burmese. Most cat registries do not recognise a split between the two groups, but those that do formally refer to the type developed by British cat breeders as the European Burmese.