How to Say "Cat" in Japanese

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Last Updated: April 29, 2024 Fact Checked

Japanese is a very interesting language, and one of the most exciting ones to learn. Saying “cat” in Japanese is also very easy. Read on to learn how.

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Say "Ne" (ね). The "e" is pronounced as the short e sound. Think of it like saying "neh".^{[1]
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- Don't pronounce "ne" like you would pronounce the word "knee".
This is pronounced "koh" as in the "oh" sound.^{[2]
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Pronounced "Nekoh".^{[3]
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Is Neko pronounced the same way in Katakana and Kanji?

Vaishnavi Nistala

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The pronunciation of words doesn't change with the script, although the meaning might. It's the same language, only with three different alphabets.

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How do you say "dog" in Japanese?

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"Inu" is the word for dog in Japanese. The kanji (character) for this in written Japanese is 犬.

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In written Japanese, Neko is written ねこ(hiragana), ネコ (katakana), and 猫 (kanji).

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You can also add "Ko" (こ, or 子) at the start of Neko to mean kitten. Literally, this translates to "child cat".

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