Sound for word

jilang · Post by **jilang** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 6:43 am

Hi

I was thinking about the word: "niao" for cat. Was the word made because of the sound cats make? Did people take the sound cats make and turn it into the word for cat?

~Jilang

ong · Post by **ong** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 9:44 am

Yes,I read that in old chinese it is miau.

jilang · Post by **jilang** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 10:15 am

That's interesting. Are there any other such words?

ong · Post by **ong** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 12:04 pm

yes, another one is duck

jilang · Post by **jilang** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 1:19 pm

Are all the animal names like that to? Some sound like and some don't. horse and dog seem to fit too but bird and elephant doesn't.