In “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” the cat that disappears until only its grin remains is the Cheshire Cat.
Lewis Carroll introduces the Cheshire Cat at the Duchess’s house and later has it appear in a tree, where it converses with Alice in riddling, unsettling fashion. The cat can fade away gradually, leaving its smile suspended in the air. Alice observes that she has seen a cat without a grin, but never a grin without a cat.
The character appeared in the 1865 first edition illustrated by John Tenniel. Although Carroll made the Cheshire Cat famous, the expression “grinning like a Cheshire cat” was already known in English before the novel; it appeared in print by the eighteenth century. Its origin is uncertain, with theories involving Cheshire’s dairy farms, cheese, and inn signs painted with poorly rendered lions.
A common mix-up is assuming the cat’s name is simply “Cheshire.” In Carroll’s story, “Cheshire Cat” is the character’s established name, while “Cheshire” is used informally in some adaptations.