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Kanji Detail for 猫 - "cat, feline"

猫

  • Meaning

    猫 means "cat, feline."

    1. Cat - A small domesticated feline animal.

    2. Feline - Of or relating to cats.

  • Words using 猫

    • 猫背 ねこぜ Listen bent back; hunchback; stoop
    • 猫舌 ねこじた Listen dislike of very hot food or drink; inability to take hot food; cat tongue

  • Four-character idioms with 猫

    • 窮鼠噛猫 きゅうそごうびょう Listen a cornered rat will bite the cat; one who is cornered will fight like a devil

  • Origin of 猫

    The beast radical 犭 beside 苗, "seedling", which lends the reading myō — a sound the Chinese heard as the animal's own voice. The cat is the beast that says its own name.

    How to remember it: The animal 犭 that guards the rice seedlings 苗 from mice — and whose name, myō, is simply the sound it makes.

    Sources: en.wiktionary.org · mojinavi.com

  • Tattoo check: 猫

    • Verified meaning: cat, feline
    • Official Jōyō kanji — a standard character every Japanese reader recognises
    • Used in real Japanese given names (read ねこ, ねこざき)

    A single kanji rarely maps one-to-one onto an English word. Read the meanings and associations above as a set — a character that fits the dictionary definition can still carry a connotation you did not intend.

  • Name readings of 猫

    Given names 猫(ねこ)Listen

    Surnames 猫(ねこざき)Listen

  • Compare with other kanji that mean the same thing:

  • Dictionary Citations

    The meaning above is based on the following sources:

    KANJIDIC2 A comprehensive Japanese-English kanji dictionary

    cat

    Unihan Unicode Han Database for CJK characters

    cat

    CC-CEDICT A Chinese-English dictionary

    cat (CL:隻|只[zhi1]); (dialect) to hide oneself; (loanword) (coll.) modem

    Make Me a Hanzi Open-source Chinese character data

    cat

  • Onyomi

    tip

    byoh(ビョウ) ビョウ

  • Kunyomi

    tip

    neko(ねこ) ねこ

  • Strokes

    tip

    11 strokes

  • Radical

    tip

    犬 犭 (inu・kemonohen)

  • Related Keywords

    cat feline pet animal kitten hunter independent predator

Sentences including 猫

  • I have a cat and a dog.

  • Under the table was a black cat.

  • He rescued a cat from a high tree.

  • The cat was basking in the sun.

  • One of the most beautiful animals is a cat.

  • We found a poor little cat in the yard.

  • Cats are very clean animals.

  • Is that a cat or a dog?

  • The missing cat has not been found yet.

  • The cat is very cute.

Sentences from Japanese classical masterpieces

More kanji with the radical 犬 犭 (inu・kemonohen)

See all kanji with this radical →

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