貓

See also: 猫

貓 U+8C93, 貓 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-8C93 ← 貒 [U+8C92] CJK Unified Ideographs 貔 → [U+8C94]

Translingual

Japanese	猫
Simplified	猫
Traditional	貓

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

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Chinese

trad.		貓
simp.		猫

一隻貓／一只猫

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

“cat”

Onomatopoeic. Compare 喵 (miāo, “meow, the onomatopoeic cry of a cat”).

Schuessler (2007) minimally reconstructs Old Chinese *mau, reasoning that 貓's place among division II syllables results from its onomatopoeic nature instead of an Old Chinese medial *-r-; onomatopoeia is also responsible for the 陰平／阴平 (yīnpíng) tone instead of the expected 陽平／阳平 (yángpíng).

“modem”

Borrowed from English modem.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Standard)

  (Pinyin): māo, máo (mao¹, mao²)

  (Zhuyin): ㄇㄠ, ㄇㄠˊ

  (Chengdu, SP): mao¹

  (Dungan, Cyrillic): мо (mo, I)

• Cantonese

  (Guangzhou, Jyutping): maau¹

  (Taishan, Wiktionary): miu²

• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): meu
• Min Bei (KCR): mê
• Min Dong (BUC): mà / mièu
• Min Nan

  (Hokkien, POJ): bâ / niau / bâu

  (Teochew, Peng'im): ngiao¹ / ngiou¹ / bha¹

• Wu (Wiktionary): mau (T3); miau (T3)

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Pinyin: māo
    • Zhuyin: ㄇㄠ
    • Wade–Giles: mao¹
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: mhau
    • IPA ^(key): /mɑʊ̯⁵⁵/
    • 
      
  • (Standard Chinese, erhua-ed) (貓兒／猫儿)⁺
    • Pinyin: māor
    • Zhuyin: ㄇㄠㄦ
    • Wade–Giles: maorh¹
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: mhaul
    • IPA ^(key): /maʊɻʷ⁵⁵/
      
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Pinyin: máo
    • Zhuyin: ㄇㄠˊ
    • Wade–Giles: mao²
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: mau
    • IPA ^(key): /mɑʊ̯³⁵/

Note: máo - “to bend over”.

• • (Chengdu)
    • Sichuanese Pinyin: mao¹
    • Scuanxua Ladinxua Xin Wenz: mao
    • IPA ^(key): /mau⁵⁵/
  • (Dungan)
    • Cyrillic: мо (mo, I)
    • IPA ^(key): /mɔː²⁴/

    (Note: Dungan pronunciation is currently experimental and may be inaccurate.)

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: maau¹
    • Yale: māau
    • Cantonese Pinyin: maau¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: mao¹
    • IPA ^(key): /maːu̯⁵⁵/
  • (Taishanese, Taicheng)
    • Wiktionary: miu²
    • IPA ^(key): /ᵐbiu⁵⁵/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: meu
    • Hakka Romanization System: meu
    • Hagfa Pinyim: meu⁴
    • IPA: /meu̯⁵⁵/
• Min Bei
  • (Jian'ou)
    • Kienning Colloquial Romanized: mê
    • IPA ^(key): /me³³/
• Min Dong
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: mà / mièu
    • IPA ^(key): /ma⁵³/, /mieu⁵³/

Note:

• mà - vernacular;
• mièu - literary.

Min Nan

• (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, mainstream Taiwanese)
  • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bâ
  • Tâi-lô: bâ
  • Phofsit Daibuun: baa
  • IPA (Kaohsiung): /ba²³/
  • IPA (Zhangzhou): /ba¹³/
  • IPA (Xiamen, Quanzhou, Taipei): /ba²⁴/
• (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, mainstream Taiwanese)
  • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: niau
  • Tâi-lô: niau
  • Phofsit Daibuun: niaw
  • IPA (Quanzhou): /niãʊ³³/
  • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei, Kaohsiung): /niãʊ⁴⁴/
• (Hokkien: Quanzhou, Xiamen, Zhangzhou)
  • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bâu
  • Tâi-lô: bâu
  • Phofsit Daibuun: baau
  • IPA (Zhangzhou): /baʊ¹³/
  • IPA (Quanzhou, Xiamen): /baʊ²⁴/

Note:

• bâ/niau - vernacular;
• bâu - literary.

• (Teochew)
  • Peng'im: ngiao¹ / ngiou¹ / bha¹
  • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: ngiau / ngiou / ba
  • IPA ^(key): /ŋiau³³/, /ŋiou³³/, /ba³³/

Note:

• ngiao1 - Shantou, ngiou1 - Choazhou;
• bha1 - vernacular.

Wu

• (Shanghainese)
  • Wiktionary: mau (T3); miau (T3)
  • IPA ^(key): /mɔ²³/, /miɔ²³/

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• Dialectal data▼

Variety	Location	edit 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/

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• Middle Chinese: /mˠiᴇu/, /mˠau/▼

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

• Old Chinese▼

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*C.mˤraw/

  (Zhengzhang): /*mreːw/, /*mrew/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	貓
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	māo
Middle Chinese	‹ maew ›
Old Chinese	/*C.mˁraw/
English	cat
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

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

1. cat (Classifier: 隻／只 m c)
2. (dialectal) to hide oneself
3. (Mandarin, colloquial) to bend over; to stoop
4. (loanword, colloquial) modem

Compounds

• 三腳貓／三脚猫 (sānjiǎomāo)
• 偷貓遞狗／偷猫递狗
• 加菲貓／加菲猫
• 咬人貓／咬人猫
• 夜貓子／夜猫子 (yèmāozi)
• 小貓熊／小猫熊
• 山貓／山猫 (shānmāo)
• 憋死貓／憋死猫
• 捉鼠拿貓／捉鼠拿猫
• 暹羅貓／暹罗猫
• 木貓／木猫
• 照貓畫虎／照猫画虎
• 熊貓／熊猫 (xióngmāo)
• 狸貓／狸猫 (límāo)
• 病貓／病猫
• 窮鼠齧貓／穷鼠啮猫
• 老鼠見貓／老鼠见猫
• 花貓巧嘴／花猫巧嘴

• 薛定諤的貓／薛定谔的猫 (Xuēdìng'è de māo)
• 藏貓兒／藏猫儿
• 豹貓／豹猫 (bàomāo)
• 貍貓／狸猫
• 貓兒／猫儿 (māor)
• 貓兒洗臉／猫儿洗脸
• 貓兒眼／猫儿眼 (māoryǎn)
• 貓兒臉／猫儿脸
• 貓兒頭／猫儿头
• 貓兒食／猫儿食
• 貓咪／猫咪 (māomī)
• 貓哭老鼠／猫哭老鼠
• 貓哭耗子／猫哭耗子
• 貓噬鸚鵡／猫噬鹦鹉
• 貓尾紅／猫尾红
• 貓嶼／猫屿
• 貓溺／猫溺

• 貓熊／猫熊 (māoxióng)
• 貓猴／猫猴
• 貓眼石／猫眼石
• 貓耳朵／猫耳朵
• 貓頭鷹／猫头鹰 (māotóuyīng)
• 貓鼠同眠／猫鼠同眠
• 貓鼻頭／猫鼻头
• 躲貓貓／躲猫猫
• 郎貓／郎猫 (lángmāo)
• 醉貓兒／醉猫儿
• 野貓／野猫 (yěmāo)
• 鐵貓／铁猫
• 鐵貓兒／铁猫儿
• 阿貓阿狗／阿猫阿狗 (āmāo'āgǒu)
• 靈貓／灵猫 (língmāo)
• 黃貓黑尾／黄猫黑尾
• 黑貓／黑猫

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Japanese

Kanji

貓

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji)

Readings

• On (unclassified): びょう (byō)
• Kun: ねこ (neko, 貓)

Noun

貓 (counter 匹, hiragana ねこ, katakana ネコ, rōmaji neko)

1. Alternative form of 猫 (“cat”)

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Korean

Hanja

貓 (eumhun 고양이 묘 (goyang-i myo))

1. cat

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Vietnamese

Han character

貓 (mèo, miêu)

1. cat