An onomatopoeic word for 'meow', a cat
sound. The more common form is 'nya', a less common form is 'nyu'.
'Nyo' (にょ) is also acceptable and has been popularised by Dejiko-chan (a catgirl, or nekomimi (猫耳) in the
anime TV series DiGi Charat. Dejiko-chan ends almost all sentences with this suffix (
see examples). Another feline character in the show, Puchiko-chan, ends most of her sentences with the suffix 'nyu'.
Is is a misconception that 'nyo' can be defined as 'urine'. The Japanese word for urine is 尿 (nyō), the vowel
sound being slightly longer. This is a kanji character whereas onomatopoeic words in Japanese are usually spelled only in hiragana.
It would be akin to using the
English sentence "We are buying a cat" but pretending
one had said "Urine are buying a cat", simply because the words use similar pronunciation.