Ameow ormiaow is acat vocalization.Meows may have a large range of sounds.[1] Adult cats rarely meow to each other.[citation needed] An adult cat meowing at a human is generally considered apost-domestication extension of meowing by kittens: a call for attention.[2][better source needed]
Pre-domesticated felines are believed to have communicated with each other mainly via their sense of smell and marking behaviors which provide a superior means of communication with other cats, but as they were domesticated they learned to vocalize to humans. Their vocalizations can signal hunger, desire to go outside, or simple greetings.[3]
Amew is a high-pitched meow often produced by kittens. It is apparently used to solicit attention from the kitten's mother, and adult cats may use it during periods of distress or sadness, or to signal submission.[1]
Meowing fundamentally evolves as a learned behavior.Feral cats meow much less often than cats with owners. Over time, cats may learn to meow in response to human vocalizations, so that a back and forth resembling a conversation in all but content may take place.[3][4]
InAmerican English, the spellingmeow was first used in 1842. Before that, the word could be spelledmiaow,miau, ormeaw. Of any variant, the earliest attestation of a cat's cry inEarly Modern English is from the 1630s.[5]
The dictionary definition ofmeow at Wiktionary
Quotations related toMeow at Wikiquote
Media related toCats meowing at Wikimedia Commons
