A meow or miaow , is the most familiar vocalization of cats. A meow can be assertive, plaintive, friendly, bold, welcoming, attention soliciting, demanding, or complaining. It can even be silent, where the cat opens its mouth but does not vocalize. Adult cats rarely meow to each other, and so adult meowing to human beings is likely to be a post-domestication extension of meowing by kittens. When a cat meows it is often looking for something, be that food, attention, or other. The "other" can also be as yet unknown, often at night, waking up the cat's owner.
Video Meow
Spelling
In English, the first use of the spelling "meow" was in 1842. Before that, the word could be spelled "miaow", "miau", or "meaw".
Language
Humans often want to believe that cats have their own "language" tough, sadly, this isn't true. Truly, meows are just cats trying to get what they want. citation needed The acoustics of a meow often change what humans consider the "urgency" and/or "pleasantness" of the sound. Longer sounds such as "MEOW-W-W-W-WWW" are considered more urgent, and less pleasant. More "pleasant" sounds are more like "MEE-ow" where they sound starts high and ends low. Cats aren't really using language, as they don't know what their meows mean. citation needed
Origin
The word "meow" originated in the early 17th century. It was, obviously, an imitative, imitating the noise a cat makes. In the 1800s-1850s the word "meow" was not really used, but it started to become more used in the 1900s, and spiked around 1930. The usage of the word "meow" continued to rise, with a short dip in the 1960s. It has continued to rise since.
Language differences
Different languages have correspondingly different words for the "miau" or "meow" sound, including:
In some languages (such as Chinese ?, m?o), the vocalization became the name of the animal itself.
Maps Meow
See also
- Cat communication
- Jingle Cats
- Miao (disambiguation)
- Onomatopoeia
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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