Meow

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Wikipedia

A cat meowing.
A cat meowing

A meow or miaow is a cat vocalization. Meows may have a large range of sounds.[1] Adult cats rarely meow to each other.[citation needed] An adult cat meowing at a human is generally considered a post-domestication extension of meowing by kittens: a call for attention.[2][better source needed]

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.[3]

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 during periods of distress or sadness, or to signal submission.[1]

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.[3][4]

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.[5]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Schötz, Susanne; van de Weijer, Joost; Eklund, Robert (25 August 2017). Phonetic Characteristics of Domestic Cat Vocalisations (PDF). 1st International Workshop on Vocal Interactivity in-and-between Humans, Animals and Robots (PDF). pp. 5–6. ISBN 978-2-9562029-0-5.
  2. ↑ "Meowing and Yowling". Virtual Pet Behaviorist. ASPCA. Archived from the original on 6 September 2012. Retrieved 28 May 2012.
  3. 1 2 Whitcomb, Isobel (15 September 2022). "Why do cats meow?". Live Science. Archived from the original on 10 June 2023. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  4. ↑ Bradshaw, John W. S. (January 2016). "Sociality in cats: A comparative review". Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research. 11: 113–124. doi:10.1016/j.jveb.2015.09.004. ISSN 1558-7878. S2CID 83557743.
  5. ↑ Harper, Douglas. "Meow". Online Etymology Dictionary. Archived from the original on 18 October 2017. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  • The dictionary definition of meow at Wiktionary
  • Quotations related to Meow at Wikiquote
  • Media related to Cats meowing at Wikimedia Commons