Vietnamese animal sounds: what a cat says in Vietnamese

In Vietnamese, a cat says meo meo (or just meo), and the word for cat, mèo, comes from that same sound. To say a cat is meowing, Vietnamese speakers say con mèo kêu meo meo, "the cat cries meo meo."

Animal sounds are some of the first words Vietnamese kids learn, and they're a fun, easy entry point for learners of any age.

How do you say meo meo?

Meo sounds like "meh-oh" squeezed into one syllable, much like English "meow." It has a flat, level tone, which is why it's written with no accent mark.

The word for cat, mèo, has a falling tone (the huyền mark, like a grave accent). So the sound is meo and the animal is mèo: same letters, different tone. It's a nice example of how tones work. For more, see how Vietnamese tones work, explained with one word.

How do you talk about a cat's sounds?

• Kêu ("keh-oo," flat tone): to cry out or make a noise. Mèo kêu means "the cat is meowing."
• Meo meo: the sound itself.
• Gừ gừ ("guh guh," falling tone): a growl or rumble. Some speakers also use it for purring; usage varies, and some people simply describe purring in a phrase instead.
• Rên ("zen" or "ren"): to moan, for long, plaintive cries, like a cat yowling at night.

What do other animals say in Vietnamese?

Here are common sounds, the way Vietnamese children's books and songs write them:

• Dog: gâu gâu ("gow gow")
• Duck: cạp cạp ("kahp kahp," low heavy tone)
• Rooster: ò ó o ("aw aw aw" with rising and falling tones)
• Chick: chiếp chiếp ("chee-up chee-up")
• Pig: ụt ịt ("oot eet," low heavy tones)
• Frog: ộp ộp ("ohp ohp")
• Mouse: chít chít ("cheet cheet")

Vietnamese also has verbs for specific animal noises, which you'll hear more often than the sounds themselves in everyday sentences: chó sủa (the dog barks), gà gáy (the rooster crows) and chim hót (the bird sings). The cat simply kêu.

Cows are trickier: you'll see ụm bò or bò ò in children's material, and families vary. Birdsong is often described with the verb líu lo, "to chirp sweetly," rather than one fixed sound.

Why animal sounds differ between languages

Animals don't change, but each language fits their sounds into its own system. Vietnamese words are single syllables with tones, so animal sounds become short, repeated syllables like gâu gâu and cạp cạp. English has "woof" and "quack," which follow English sound patterns. Neither is more accurate; they're just shaped by each language.

That's also why some sounds are close across languages. "Meow" and meo are almost the same, likely because a cat's call is already a simple, vowel-heavy sound.

Animal sounds in songs

Vietnamese children's songs are full of these sounds:

• Một con vịt (One duck): a cheerful song about a duck that goes cạp cạp cạp.
• Rửa mặt như mèo (Washing your face like a cat): a song with a meo meo meo chorus that teases kids who wash their faces lazily, the way a cat does.

See Vietnamese children's songs to sing at home for how to use them with kids.

Cats and Duma Meow

Duma Meow is an original Vietnamese cartoon about four cats: Maelis, Corin, Seraph and Luna. The "Meow" in the name is the English cat sound, while the cats themselves speak Vietnamese. They don't just meow; they say lines like Ủa? (Huh?) and Chờ chút (Wait a sec). You can hear all four voices in the ham chơi voice test.

For cat vocabulary beyond the sound, read "Con mèo": cat words and cat sayings in Vietnamese.

A quick game for kids

Say the Vietnamese sound and have kids guess the animal: gâu gâu, cạp cạp, ò ó o, meo meo. Then swap roles. It works in the car, at dinner, or while looking at a picture book.

Start with meo meo and gâu gâu; they're the easiest to say and the ones kids will hear most.