野猫 (yě māo) — wildcat; stray cat | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

野猫 covers both truly wild cats (untamed species) and feral or stray cats living around people. 猫 alone is the everyday pet cat.

noun

wildcatstray cat

Measure word · 只

Examples

野猫。
Cóng shān shàng pǎo xià lái de yě māo fēi cháng xiōng měng.
The wildcat that ran down from the mountain is very fierce.
野猫，。
Xiǎo qū lǐ yǒu hěn duō yě māo, lín jū men jīng cháng wèi tā men.
There are many stray cats in the neighborhood; the neighbors often feed them.
野猫，。
Zhè zhī yě māo kàn qǐ lái è le, wǒ men qù mǎi diǎn māo liáng ba.
This stray cat looks hungry; let's go buy some cat food.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

野 means wild or outside and 猫 means cat, so the sense is a wild or stray cat.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

田田tiánfield

土土tǔearth

Sound part声符shēngfú

予

予yǔ野yě

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

野 combines 田 (field) above 土 (earth) to show open country, with 予 giving the sound.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

苗

苗miáo猫māo

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

猫 puts 犬 beside 苗; 犬 marks the animal sense, and 苗 gives the sound.

Appears in

Animals & Mammals

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