What does 猫 mean?
猫 (māo) means cat. It stands alone as an ordinary word: 一只猫 (yì zhī māo, “a cat”). The usual compounds are 小猫 (xiǎomāo, kitten), 猫咪 (māomī, the affectionate, sing-song form used with pets), 猫粮 (māoliáng, cat food), 猫眼 (māoyǎn, a door peephole, literally “cat’s eye”) and 猫头鹰 (māotóuyīng, an owl, literally “cat-headed eagle”).
The traditional form is 貓, built on the 豸 radical. Simplified 猫 uses 犭, the dog radical, which it shares with 狗, 猴 and 猪. Both forms carry 苗 as the phonetic component, which is why the character is read māo.
Two compounds are worth meeting before the zodiac question, because they surprise people. 熊猫 (xióngmāo) is a panda — literally “bear-cat”, which is a fair description of the animal. 招财猫 (zhāocáimāo) is the beckoning lucky cat, the Chinese name for the figure Westerners usually know from Japan as the maneki-neko.
Why the cat is not in the Chinese zodiac
The Chinese zodiac has twelve animals and the cat is not one of them. The twelve are 鼠 Rat, 牛 Ox, 虎 Tiger, 兔 Rabbit, 龙 Dragon, 蛇 Snake, 马 Horse, 羊 Goat, 猴 Monkey, 鸡 Rooster, 狗 Dog and 猪 Pig — all twelve of them domesticated or iconic animals of the Chinese agricultural world, and no cat.
The usual explanation is a folk story, told to children rather than recorded in the classical calendar rules. In the common version, the animals were invited to a race or a gathering, and the cat and the rat agreed to wake each other. The rat did not wake the cat, or pushed it off the ox’s back as they crossed the river, and the cat arrived too late. That is why — in the story — the cat holds a grudge against the rat to this day, and why 猫鼠 (cat and mouse) is the standard phrase for two parties in permanent opposition.
The details change between versions and between regions, and the story is folklore, not a rule from the calendar. The structural fact is simpler: the twelve-animal cycle was fixed long before the cat was a common household animal in China, so the cat had no seat to lose.
The cat in the Vietnamese zodiac
There is one genuine exception worth knowing. The Vietnamese zodiac replaces the Rabbit with the Cat, so the fourth sign is the Year of the Cat rather than the Year of the Rabbit. The other eleven animals are the same. If you are making anything for a Vietnamese recipient and reach for 兔, the sign they actually observe is 猫.
猫 in idioms and set phrases
猫哭老鼠 (māo kū lǎoshǔ, “a cat weeping over a mouse”) is the Chinese equivalent of crocodile tears — performed grief over the thing you are about to eat. 三脚猫 (sān jiǎo māo, “a three-legged cat”) describes a dabbler who is competent at nothing in particular. 照猫画虎 (zhào māo huà hǔ, “draw a tiger by copying a cat”) describes imitating something roughly and getting it wrong. 猫鼠同眠 (māo shǔ tóng mián, “cat and mouse sleeping together”) describes collusion between parties that are supposed to be opposed. 猫儿洗脸 (māo ér xǐ liǎn, “a cat washing its face”) is used for a perfunctory cleanup.
Is 猫 suitable for a tattoo or a design?
Yes, if the subject really is the animal. 猫 is highly legible, has a clear left-right structure, and sits well at both large and small sizes. Traditional 貓 is slightly denser because of the 豸 radical and needs marginally more space.
The caution is expectation rather than shape. Because the cat is missing from the zodiac, a 猫 design cannot carry a zodiac sign, a birth year or a branch. Anyone who wants the zodiac framing needs one of the twelve animals instead, and a cat design is simply about cats — which is a perfectly good reason to use it.
Is 猫 used in Chinese names?
Not in given names. 猫 is an animal word and reads as one, so it is used for pets and nicknames rather than for people. Pet cats are commonly called 咪咪 (mīmī), and 猫咪 works as an affectionate name as well as a description.
Design notes
What it does not mean
猫 does not mean luck, and it is not a zodiac sign. It does not mean cunning in the way the English “catty” suggests, and it is not an insult on its own. The lucky-cat figure belongs to 招财猫 as a whole and carries its own symbolism, which is not built into the character 猫.
Common mistakes
- Assuming the cat has a zodiac year. It does not.
- Using 猫 for a birth-year design, where one of the twelve animals is needed.
- Using 猫 in a personal name.
- Mixing simplified 猫 with traditional characters elsewhere in the design.
- Confusing 熊猫 (panda) with a cat because of the shared character.