I like cats and I like languages (I speak 4 languages). My mother spoked polish and when she read books and it showed a dog barking, she would say ‘how-how”. So I was wondering was wondering how people say the sound that cats make.
As you can see from this list, the cat’s basic “meow” is widely interpreted by different languages, but do share a recognizable sound pattern. The spelling/sound differences may be more from the limitations/parameters that each language has rather than a real difference in translating cat sounds. I found looking at these enjoyable, I hope that you do,too.
Saying Meow in European Languages
| Language | Ways to say meow |
| Albanian | mjaullin |
| Basque | Meow |
| Belarusian | мяў |
| Bosnian | Mjau |
| Bulgarian | мяу |
| Catalan | meu |
| Croatian | mijau |
| Czech | mňau |
| Danish | miav |
| Dutch | miauw |
| Estonian | Mjäu |
| Finnish | Miau |
| French | Miaou |
| Galician | miar |
| German | Miau |
| Greek | Μιάου |
| Hungarian | miáú |
| Icelandic | mjá |
| Irish | meow |
| Italian | Miao |
| Latvian | Mjau |
| Lithuanian | Miau |
| Macedonian | meow |
| Maltese | mjaw |
| Norwegian | mjau |
| Polish | Miau |
| Portuguese | Miau |
| Romanian | miau |
| Russian | мяу |
| Serbian | мјау |
| Slovak | mňau |
| Slovenian | mijav |
| Spanish | maullar |
| Swedish | mjau |
| Ukrainian | Мяу |
| Welsh | Meow |
| Yiddish | מיאַו |
Saying Meow in Asian Languages
| Language | Ways to say meow |
| Armenian | Meow |
| Azerbaijani | miyavlamak |
| Bengali | মিউ |
| Chinese Simplified | 喵 |
| Chinese Traditional | 喵 |
| Georgian | meow |
| Gujarati | મેઓવ |
| Hindi | मियांउ |
| Hmong | Miob |
| Japanese | ニャー |
| Kannada | ಮಿಯಾಂವ್ |
| Kazakh | мияу |
| Khmer | meow |
| Korean | 야옹 |
| Lao | meow |
| Malayalam | മ്യാവു |
| Marathi | Meow |
| Mongolian | Meow |
| Myanmar (Burmese) | ညောင် |
| Nepali | meow |
| Sinhala | මියාව් |
| Tajik | мияв |
| Tamil | மியாவ் |
| Telugu | మిఅవ్ |
| Thai | เหมียว |
| Urdu | میاوں |
| Uzbek | myau |
| Vietnamese | meo |
Saying Meow in Middle-Eastern Languages
| Language | Ways to say meow |
| Arabic | مواء |
| Hebrew | לילל |
| Persian | میو |
| Turkish | miyav |
Saying Meow in African Languages
| Language | Ways to say meow |
| Afrikaans | miaau |
| Chichewa | muyawo |
| Hausa | meow |
| Igbo | meow |
| Sesotho | meow |
| Somali | Meow |
| Swahili | meow |
| Yoruba | Meow |
| Zulu | Meow |
Saying Meow in Austronesian Languages
| Language | Ways to say meow |
| Cebuano | meow |
| Filipino | meow |
| Indonesian | meong |
| Javanese | Kantha |
| Malagasy | meo |
| Malay | meow |
| Maori | Meow |
Saying Meow in Other Foreign Languages
| Language | Ways to say meow |
| Esperanto | miaŭ |
| Haitian Creole | Meow |
| Latin | meow |
