Kilo Lingo

(māo) - cat in Mandarin

māo

Traditional: 貓

Line drawing of 猫
Coloured illustration of 猫
#1292 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

cat

Word origin

A phono-semantic compound with the animal radical 犭on the left marking it as a beast and 苗 (miáo) supplying the sound, which also echoes a cat's cry.

Origin
phono-semantic compound
Root
犭(animal) + 苗 (miáo, phonetic)

Stroke order

Stroke order for 猫

猫

Examples

养yǎng。

We keep a cat at home.

。

This cat is very cute.

。

Cats like to sleep.

尾wěi。

The kitten is chasing its own tail.

墙qiáng。

That black cat jumped onto the wall.

猫 (māo) means cat. The animal radical marks it as a beast, while the phonetic also evokes its mewing.

Where this fits

The 1,000 most common Mandarin words

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Mandarin · Free printables

猫: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "猫" (cat): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is part of lesson 26.