How to Write 喵 (miāo) — Meaning “meow”

Picture a cat's mouth (口) opening to say "meow" next to a tiny seedling (苗). The seedling reminds you of a small kitten, and the mouth shows the sound of the meow.

Start by writing a narrow 口 on the left, then write 苗 on the right: first the grass radical 艹 on top, then the field 田 below. Make sure the 口 is not too big and keep the grass radical's two horizontal strokes even.

呲 (cī) has 口 plus 此 and means a hissing or grinding sound, while 咠 (qì) has 口 plus an ear component and means whispering. 喵 uses 苗 (seedling) and specifically means only a cat's meow.

喵 is used as an onomatopoeia for a cat's meow in casual and online contexts. It appears in slang like 喵星人 (cat people) and is popular in cat-related content on social media, but it is not part of formal HSK vocabulary.

Common words containing 喵 include: 喵喵 (miāo miāo) — meow meow; 喵星人 (miāo xīng rén) — cat (slang); 学猫喵 (xué māo miāo) — Meow like a cat..