A meow or miaow is a
cat vocalization. ''Meows'' may have diverse tones and are sometimes chattered, murmured or whispered. Adult cats rarely meow to each other, so an adult cat meowing to
human beings is probably a post-domestication extension of meowing by
kittens: a call for attention.
The meow can be assertive, plaintive, friendly, bold, welcoming, attention-soliciting, demanding, or complaining. It can even be silent, where the cat opens its
mouth but does not vocalize.
Just as humans may verbalize exhaustively when they are happy, so can cats. According to ''
The Purrington Post
Images and videos of domestic cats make up some of the most viewed content on the World Wide Web, particularly image macros in the form of lolcats. ThoughtCatalog has described cats as the "unofficial mascot of the Internet".
The subject has ...
'', a chatty cat is likely happy too.
A mew is a high-pitched meow often produced by kittens.
It is apparently used to solicit attention from the kitten's mother,
and adult cats may use it as well.
The mew is similar to what is described in Brown et al. 1978 as an isolation call. By around three to four weeks of age kittens do not mew when at least one littermate is present, and at four to five months of age kittens stop mewing altogether.
Spelling
In
American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances i ...
, the spelling "meow" was first used in 1842. Before that, the word could be spelled "miaow", "miau", or "meaw". Of any variant, the earliest attestation of a cat's cry in
Early Modern English
Early Modern English or Early New English (sometimes abbreviated EModE, EMnE, or ENE) is the stage of the English language from the beginning of the Tudor period to the English Interregnum and Restoration, or from the transition from Middle E ...
is from the 1630s.
Language differences
The following table lists the
onomatopoeic word for the "miau" or "meow" sound in various languages. In some languages (such as Chinese , ', and Thai , '), the vocalization became the name of the animal itself.
See also
*
Cat communication
*
Cross-linguistic onomatopoeias
Because of the nature of onomatopoeia, there are many words which show a similar pronunciation in the languages of the world. The following is a list of some conventional examples:
Human sounds
Consuming food or drink
Bodily functions and ...
*
Devocalization
*
Jingle Cats
''Jingle Cats'' and its follow-up ''Jingle Dogs'' are a series of Christmas novelty song albums from producer Mike Spalla. A third series was released in 1997 titled ''Jingle Babies''. ''Jingle Cats'' and ''Jingle Dogs'' were released as albums ...
* ''
Meow the Jewels
''Meow the Jewels'' is a remix album by American hip hop duo Run the Jewels. It was released on September 25, 2015, by Mass Appeal Records and RBC Records. The album, a remix of the duo's original album ''Run the Jewels 2'', has all instrumental ...
'', a hip-hop album by Run the Jewels with all instrumentals replaced with meowing
*
Miao (disambiguation) Miao may refer to:
* Miao people, linguistically and culturally related group of people, recognized as such by the government of the People's Republic of China
* Miao script or Pollard script, writing system used for Miao languages
* Miao (Unicode ...
References
Animal sounds
Cat behavior
Onomatopoeia
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