猫 - Mandarin word #1292

猫

māo

Traditional: 貓

#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.

猫

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.

(6)

Track this word in your spaced-repetition queue and be tested on it at the right interval.

This word is part of lesson 26.