Meow

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Vocalization by cats

title: "Meow" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["animal-sounds", "cat-behavior", "onomatopoeia"] description: "Vocalization by cats" topic_path: "general/animal-sounds" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meow" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Vocalization by cats ::

| pos = right | filename = Meow_normalized.opus | title = Meow! | format = Opus (audio format) ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Meow_cat_-_Mdebona.jpg" caption="A cat meowing" alt="A cat meowing."] ::

A meow or miaow is a cat vocalization. Meows may have a large range of sounds. Adult cats rarely meow to each other. An adult cat meowing at a human is generally considered a post-domestication extension of meowing by kittens: a call for attention.

Pre-domesticated felines are believed to have communicated with each other mainly via their sense of smell and marking behaviors which provide a superior means of communication with other cats, but as they were domesticated they learned to vocalize to humans. Their vocalizations can signal hunger, desire to go outside, or simple greetings.

MewA 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 during periods of distress or sadness, or to signal submission.

Background and biological details

Meowing fundamentally evolves as a learned behavior. Feral cats meow much less often than cats with owners. Over time, cats may learn to meow in response to human vocalizations, so that a back and forth resembling a conversation in all but content may take place.

Etymology

In American English, 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 is from the 1630s.

References

References

  1. "Meowing and Yowling". [[ASPCA]].
  2. Whitcomb, Isobel. (15 September 2022). "Why do cats meow?". [[Live Science]].
  3. (25 August 2017). "Phonetic Characteristics of Domestic Cat Vocalisations".
  4. Bradshaw, John W. S.. (January 2016). "Sociality in cats: A comparative review". Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research.
  5. Harper, Douglas. "Meow".

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animal-soundscat-behavioronomatopoeia