Miaou
/miˈaʊ/noun
A variant spelling of the cat sound meow.
Did you know?English meow and French miaou are both onomatopoeic forms, meaning the word wasn’t inherited from Latin or Greek at all—it was born from people trying to spell a cat’s voice.
Etymological Timeline
Modern English
English
miaou
“A spelling used to represent a cat’s cry.”
18th–19th Century
French/English
miaou / mew
“Written forms used to imitate the sound of a cat.”
Earlier Modern Period
English
meow
“An imitative cat-call, developed in English spelling and pronunciation.”
Proto-history
Imitative
—
“Human attempts to render the cry of a cat in writing and speech.”