How does a cat say in Japanese?

May 20, 2019 May 20, 2019 Juju Kurihara Animals, Culture, History, Language Tags: cats, japanese culture, Japanese history, Japanese language, posts 2 Comments

How does a cat say in your language? In Japanese, it’s nyaa nyaa (ニャーニャー). But it wasn’t always this way.

In Heian period (794-1192) it was nen nen (ねんねん) and in Kamakura period (1185-1333) it was neu neu (ねうねう). Then during the Edo period (1603-1868) when people started having cats as a pet and the sound changed to nyaa nyaa as it is now. Ukiyoe artist Kuniyoshi Utagawa (歌川国芳 1798-1861) was known as a cat lover and in his work, “Hayari Neko no kyogenzukushi” (流行猫の狂言づくし), the cat which makes a statement says at the end, nyagu nyagu (にゃぐにゃぐ).

How does a cat say in your language?

References:

Yahoo News! Japan : https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/article?a=20190506-00000007-pseven-life&p=1

擬音語・擬態語辞典 : Nakami Yamaguchi (山口仲美)

子猫のへや : https://www.konekono-heya.com/ukiyoe/images/kyougendukushi.html

2 Comments

Lue 4 years Reply

Miau.
Beth M Parkhurst 4 years Reply

In American English, cats say “meow.” Kittens say “mew mew.”

Thank you for your interesting post! I love cats.