The tractrac chat was illustrated and described by the French naturalist François Levaillant in Volume 4 of his Histoire naturelle des oiseaux d'Afrique published in 1805.

[5] It was moved to its current genus, Emarginata, after molecular phylogenetic studies published in 2010 and 2012 found that Cercomela was polyphyletic.

[6][7][8] There are 5 subspecies:[8] The tractrac chat is 14–15 cm long with a weight of 20 g. Its tail is white with a dark inverted “T” at the tip, reminiscent of the pattern shown by several wheatears.

The south-eastern form, found in gravel plains has brown upperparts with blackish flight feathers and tail markings.

The tractrac chat has a soft fast "tactac" song and a loud chattering territorial defence call.