

The second is Kawit or "hook", referring to the hook-shaped landform along the coast of Bacoor Bay, and from which the Chinese Keit and Spanish Cavite are in turn derived. The city has been known by at least two Tagalog names, the first being Tangway, which was the name given to the area by Tagalog settlers.

It started as the small port town of Cavite Puerto that prospered during the early Spanish colonial period when it became the main seaport of Manila hosting the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade and the port used for other heavy and larger sea-bound ships. The city was the capital of Cavite province from the latter's establishment in 1614 until 1954, when it was transferred to the newly created city of Trece Martires near the center of the province. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 100,674 people.

Cavite City, officially the City of Cavite ( Tagalog: Lungsod ng Kabite, Chavacano: Ciudad de Cavite), is a 4th class component city in the Philippines.
