猫
ねこ
hepburn neko
cat
Part of speech · noun
Pattern visualization
Examples
- 猫が三匹います。There are three cats.
- 猫はとてもかわいいです。Cats are very cute.
Collocations
猫を飼う (keep a cat)~匹 (hiki, counter for small animals)子猫 (koneko, kitten)猫舌 (nekojita, sensitive tongue — "cat tongue")猫の手も借りたい (idiom: "want even a cat's hand")
Mnemonic
Neko — 猫, cat. The sound is Yamato; the Sino reading is "byou." The kanji 猫 lives in Korean too — "myo." The character itself: the beast radical (犭) plus 苗 (sprout) — a small creature swaying through grass. In Japan, cats appear in the landscape often. Just one word — "neko." The sound itself rounds.
Quick check
"Two cats" — how is the counter read?