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Glite Dictionary
🐱 A soft cat sound 🐱 To cry like a cat 🕊️ A small gull 🔒 To confine
mew

mew

3 6.7
A soft high sound that a kitten makes
  • noun
  • /mjuː/
translation icon : maullido
  • Sangbom let out a plaintive mew like a Hurkle.

Examples

  • As we approached the box, we were greeted by the gentle mew of curious little cats.

  • Thinking that it must have managed to get away, when I heard that 'mew' again!

    Blog text (16)

  • Her mouth opened, and the mews began.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • I hear the wild barn cats skittering away and hear them mew.

    Blog text (4)

  • The other should live on, increasingly helpless, with a voice like the mew of a hungry kitten.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • The tiny kitten made a soft mew as it cuddled next to its mother.

  • I could hear the mew of the lost kitten coming from under the porch.

Synonyms

meow
vsmew
48 1.0

A short sound that a cat makes

is softer and higher pitched than the common general cat sound
miaow
vsmew
  • UK
1 8.7

A short high sound that a cat makes

is softer and higher pitched than this typical general cry
mewing
vsmew
1 1.0

A short high sound made by a cat or young bird

is softer and high pitched rather than a general cat cry
miaul
vsmew
9.9

A high, often soft sound that a cat makes to get attention

is specifically a soft high pitched sound rather than a broad cat cry

Compounds

mew gull
  • US
9.6

A medium-sized seabird with a grey back and white belly found in Europe, Asia, and northeastern North America

sea mew
  • UK
9.9

A medium white and grey bird that lives by the sea and eats fish

How High-Pitched

squeak
22 1.9
chirp
18 1.6
mew
3 6.7
purr
14 1.0

Surface Forms

mew singular
mews plural

Etymology

Mew as a noun comes from the same idea: people used the copied sound 'mew' to name the small, high noise kittens and chicks make. That's why a mew is a soft, high sound.