猫 (māo) means "cat." It's a phono-semantic compound: the left side 犭 is the "animal/dog" radical (called 犬字旁 quǎnzìpáng), used in many characters for four-legged creatures like 狗 (dog) or 狼 (wolf) — it doesn't mean the animal is dog-like, just that it's a beast. The right side 苗 (miáo, "seedling") supplies the sound, giving māo. So the character is built for pronunciation, not meaning, on that side.

The traditional form is 貓, which swaps 犭 for 豸 (a radical for creeping/clawed animals), arguably a better semantic fit for a cat. Simplified Chinese uses 犭 instead, which is more common and easier to write.

It has 11 strokes in simplified form. You'll almost always meet it with the measure word 只 (zhī): 一只猫 (yì zhī māo, "one cat"). A cuter, more affectionate way to say cat, especially in speech or online, is 猫咪 (māomī) — similar to saying "kitty" instead of "cat."

Example: 我家有一只猫。(Wǒ jiā yǒu yì zhī māo.) — "My family has a cat."