Definify.com
Definition 2025
貓
貓
See also: 猫
Translingual
Han character
貓 (radical 153 豸+8, 15 strokes, cangjie input 月竹廿田 (BHTW), four-corner 44260, composition ⿰豸苗)
References
- KangXi: page 1202, character 30
- Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 36595
- Dae Jaweon: page 1664, character 5
- Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 6, page 3914, character 4
- Unihan data for U+8C93
Chinese
| trad. | 貓 | |
|---|---|---|
| simp. | 猫 | |
Glyph origin
| Characters in the same phonetic series (苗) (Zhengzhang, 2003) | |
|---|---|
| Old Chinese | |
| 貓 | *mreːw, *mrew |
| 描 | *mreːw, *mrew |
| 媌 | *mreːw, *mreːwʔ |
| 緢 | *mreːwʔ, *mreːws, *mrew |
| 苗 | *mrew |
| 猫 | *mrew |
| 庿 | *mrews |
Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *mreːw, *mrew) : semantic 豸 + phonetic 苗 (OC *mrew).
Etymology
Onomatopoetic. Compare 喵 (miāo, “meow, the onomatopoeic cry of a cat”).
Pronunciation
- Mandarin
- Cantonese
- Hakka (Sixian, PFS): meu
- Min Dong (BUC): mà / mièu
- Min Nan (POJ): bâ / niau
- Wu (Wiktionary): mau (T3); miau (T3)
- Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese, Beijing)+
- Pinyin:
- Zhuyin: ㄇㄠ
- Wade-Giles: mao1
- Gwoyeu Romatzyh: mhau
- IPA (key): /mɑʊ̯⁵⁵/
-

- (Standard Chinese, Beijing, erhua-ed) (貓兒/猫儿)+
- Pinyin:
- Zhuyin: ㄇㄠㄦ
- Wade-Giles: maorh1
- Gwoyeu Romatzyh: mhaul
- IPA (key): /maʊɻʷ⁵⁵/
- (Standard Chinese, Beijing)+
- Pinyin:
- Zhuyin: ㄇㄠˊ
- Wade-Giles: mao2
- Gwoyeu Romatzyh: mau
- IPA (key): /mɑʊ̯³⁵/
- Note: máo - “to bend over”.
- (Standard Chinese, Beijing)+
- Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)+
- Jyutping: maau1
- Yale: māau
- Cantonese Pinyin: maau1
- IPA (key): /mɑːu̯⁵⁵/
- (Taishanese, Taicheng)
- Wiktionary: miu2
- IPA (key): /ᵐbiu⁵⁵/
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)+
- Hakka
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
- Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: meu
- Hakka Romanization System: meu
- Hagfa Pinyim: meu4
- IPA: /me̯u⁵⁵/
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
- Min Dong
- (Fuzhou)
- Bàng-uâ-cê: mà / mièu
- IPA (key): /ma⁵³/, /mieu⁵³/
- Note: mà - vernacular; mièu - literary.
- (Fuzhou)
- Min Nan
- (Hokkien)
- Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bâ / niau
- Tâi-lô: bâ / niau
- Phofsit Daibuun: baa, niaw
- IPA (Xiamen): /ba²⁴/, /niaʊ⁴⁴/
- IPA (Quanzhou): /ba²⁴/, /niaʊ³³/
- IPA (Zhangzhou): /ba¹³/, /niaʊ⁴⁴/
- IPA (Taipei): /ba²⁴/, /niaʊ⁴⁴/
- IPA (Kaohsiung): /ba²³/, /niaʊ⁴⁴/
- (Hokkien)
- Wu
- (Shanghainese)
- Wiktionary: mau (T3); miau (T3)
- IPA (key): /mɔ²³/, /miɔ²³/
- (Shanghainese)
- Dialectal data▼
| Variety | Location | 貓 |
|---|---|---|
| Mandarin | Beijing | /mɑu⁵⁵/ |
| Harbin | /mau⁴⁴/ | |
| Tianjin | /mɑu⁴⁵/ | |
| Jinan |
/mɔ⁴²/ /mɔ²¹³/ 瞧~兒 |
|
| Qingdao | /mɔ⁴²/ | |
| Zhengzhou | /mau⁴²/ | |
| Xi'an | /mau²⁴/ | |
| Xining | /mɔ²⁴/ | |
| Yinchuan | /mɔ⁵³/ | |
| Lanzhou | /mɔ³¹/ | |
| Ürümqi | /mɔ⁵¹/ | |
| Wuhan | /mau⁵⁵/ | |
| Chengdu | /mau⁵⁵/ | |
| Guiyang | /mao⁵⁵/ | |
| Kunming | /mɔ⁴⁴/ | |
| Nanjing | /mɔo²⁴/ | |
| Hefei | /mɔ²¹/ | |
| Jin | Taiyuan | /mau¹¹/ |
| Pingyao | /mɔ¹³/ | |
| Hohhot | /mɔ³¹/ | |
| Wu | Shanghai |
/mɔ²³/ /mɔ⁵³/ |
| Suzhou | /mæ¹³/ | |
| Hangzhou | /mɔ²¹³/ | |
| Wenzhou | /m̠uɔ³³/ | |
| Hui | Shexian | /mɔ³¹/ |
| Tunxi | /mən²⁴/ | |
| Xiang | Changsha |
/miau³³/ /mau³³/ |
| Xiangtan | /maɯ³³/ | |
| Gan | Nanchang |
/mɑu⁴⁵/ /miɛu⁴²/ |
| Hakka | Meixian | /miau⁵³/ |
| Taoyuan | /meu⁵⁵/ | |
| Cantonese | Guangzhou | /mau⁵⁵/ |
| Nanning |
/mau⁵⁵/ /mɛu⁵⁵/ |
|
| Hong Kong | /mau⁵⁵/ | |
| Min | Xiamen (Min Nan) |
/bau³⁵/ /niau⁵⁵/ |
| Fuzhou (Min Dong) | /ma⁵³/ | |
| Jian'ou (Min Bei) |
/me³³/ /miau³³/ |
|
| Shantou (Min Nan) | /ŋiãu³³/ | |
| Haikou (Min Nan) |
/va³¹/ /niau³⁵/ /niau²³/ |
| Rime | ||
|---|---|---|
| Character | 貓 | 貓 |
| Reading # | 1/2 | 2/2 |
| Initial (聲) | 明 (4) | 明 (4) |
| Final (韻) | 宵 (92) | 肴 (90) |
| Tone (調) | Level (Ø) | Level (Ø) |
| Openness (開合) | Open | Open |
| Division (等) | Chongniu III | II |
| Fanqie | 武瀌切 | 莫交切 |
| Reconstructions | ||
| Zhengzhang Shangfang |
/mˠiᴇu/ | /mˠau/ |
| Pan Wuyun |
/mᵚiɛu/ | /mᵚau/ |
| Shao Rongfen |
/miæu/ | /mau/ |
| Edwin Pulleyblank |
/miaw/ | /maɨw/ |
| Li Rong |
/mjɛu/ | /mau/ |
| Wang Li |
/mĭɛu/ | /mau/ |
| Bernard Karlgren |
/mi̯ɛu/ | /mau/ |
| Expected Mandarin Reflex |
miáo | máo |
| Zhengzhang system (2003) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Character | 貓 | 貓 |
| Reading # | 1/2 | 2/2 |
| No. | 9101 | 9109 |
| Phonetic component |
苗 | 苗 |
| Rime group |
宵 | 宵 |
| Rime subdivision |
2 | 2 |
| Corresponding MC rime |
茅 | 苗 |
| Old Chinese |
/*mreːw/ | /*mrew/ |
Definitions
貓
Compounds
Japanese
Kanji
貓
Readings
Noun
貓 (kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai kanji 猫, counter 匹, hiragana ねこ, katakana ネコ, romaji neko)
Vietnamese
Han character
貓 (mèo, miêu)
- This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text
{{rfdef}}.
