Cat Meow Sounds: How Different Countries & Languages Represent Cat Sounds in Words

Map created by WordtipsThe map above looks at what sound cats make when they’re meowing in most of the countries of the world. While Meow is the most common in the English speaking world it’s not the mot common globally.

From the map:

Cats may be highly independent creatures, but their language is quite similar throughout the world.

The majority of cat sounds begin with an ‘m,’ including the familiar Meow (Australia, Kenya and Micronesia, to name but a few).

There’s Miau in Nicaragua, Myaco in Nepal, and Miu Miu in Bangladesh.

True to form, however, some felines will just do their own thing, including those in North and South Korea (Yaong) and Malaysia (Ngiau).

Top 5 Most Common Cat Sounds:

1. Miau / Miauw: 38 countries
2. Meow: 22 countries
3. Muwaa: 20 countries
4. Miaou: 9 countries
5. Mjau: 5 countries

Here are the sounds in various languages around the world according to Language Pro.

• Afrikaans: miaau
• Albanian: mjau
• Arabic (Algeria): miaou miaou
• Bengali: meu-meu
• Catalan: meu, meu
• Chinese (Mandarin): miao miao
• Croatian: mijau
• Danish: mjav
• Dutch: miauw
• English: meow
• Esperanto: miaw
• Estonian: näu
• Finnish: miau, kurnau
• French: miaou
• German: miau
• Greek: niaou
• Hebrew: miyau
• Hindi: mya:u, mya:u:
• Hungarian: miau
• Icelandic: mjá
• Indonesian: ngeong
• Italian: miao
• Japanese: nyaa
• Korean: (n)ya-ong
• Norwegian: mjau
• Polish: miau
• Portuguese: miau
• Russian: myau
• Slovene: mijau
• Spanish (Spain, Argentina): miau
• Swedish: mjau
• Thai: meow meow (with high tone)
• Turkish: miyauv, miyauv
• Ukrainian: myau
• Vietnamese: meo-meo

Also see: Dog Bark Sounds: How Different Countries & Languages Represent Dog Sounds in Words

How do you say it?