meow

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(Anglais)

Fréquence

Prononcé comme (IPA)

/miˈaʊ̯/

Hérité de moyen anglais

Appartenant à saterlandais

Appartenant à frison occidental

Appartenant à néerlandais

Appartenant à Middle Low German

Appartenant à moyen haut-allemand

Appartenant à allemand

In summary

Alteration of earlier mew, from Middle English mewen, mouwen (“to mew, meow”), of onomatopoeic origin. Compare Saterland Frisian mauje, miauje (“to meow”), West Frisian miaukje (“to meow”), Dutch miauwen (“to meow”), Middle Low German mauwen, mawen, mouwen (“to meow”) (whence modern German Low German mauen, miauen (“to meow”)), Middle High German mouen, modern German miauen (“to meow”). Some spellings were modelled on French miaou. Meow and its spelling variants entered widespread currency in the 19th century, mostly replacing mew, possibly because phonetic change meant that word had ceased to approximate a cat's cry (contrast the pronunciation of Middle English mewen /ˈmɛu̯ən/ compared to modern /ˈmjuː/).