Miaow

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. The vocal sound produced by a domestic cat can indicate a range of emotions or needs
2. A phonetic expression often associated with cats that conveys feelings or seeks attention
3. A sound emitted by a cat often used to express its presence or desires

Etymology: Most English speakers assume "meow" is a rough copy of a cat's cry, and it is, but the older word for the sound was "mew," and that word fell out of step with the animal it described. Middle English had "mewen" and "mouwen," and the sound they named was pronounced with a vowel close to the "ew" of "new." Over the centuries that vowel shifted to the "yoo" sound of modern "mew," so the word stopped resembling a cat's cry. In the 19th century, spellings like "meow," "miaow," and "miaou" spread widely and largely replaced "mew." Those spellings did not come from English alone. Across the Germanic languages there are close relatives of the same sound-word, including Dutch "miauwen," West Frisian "miaukje," and German "miauen," all meaning "to meow." Some English spellings were also shaped by French "miaou," which gave the word its vowel pattern as it was respelled. The verb and the noun share this origin: the sound came first, and the word for the act of making it followed from it.

Synonyms: meow