Sep 3, 2026, 4:36 PM> meow | miˈaʊ |
> […]
> origin: early 17th century: imitative
how the hell were people meowing before then
- Sep 3, 2026, 4:36 PM
Replies
freundfreundTech@chaos.socialSep 3, 2026, 4:52 PM@cpsdqs either 𓃠 or 喵
- Sep 3, 2026, 4:56 PM
@freundTech man… life must’ve been rough
- Sep 3, 2026, 5:01 PM
@freundTech wait you’re telling me the right half of cat is from the meow sound? lol
- freundfreundTech@chaos.socialSep 3, 2026, 5:20 PM
@cpsdqs Not quite. They do both have the same right side, but cat doesn't have it from meow.
Most compound characters have a meaning component on the left and a sound component on the right. Both 喵 (meow, miāo) and 猫 (cat, māo) use 苗 (seedling, miáo) as their sound component. The meaning of 苗 is competely irrelevant here.Meaning components are 口 (mouth, kǒu), which is often used for as meaning component for sounds and 犬 (dog/animal, quǎn).
Sep 3, 2026, 5:26 PM@freundTech @cpsdqs so a cat is a Meow Animal?