What does “Mkgnao” mean in Ulysses?
“Mkgnao!” is the sound Bloom's cat makes in the kitchen of 7 Eccles Street in Episode 4. Joyce spells the cat's miaow exactly as he hears it, and varies it as the cat grows more insistent: “Mrkgnao!” and then “Gurrhr!” It is one of the book's most-loved small details.
Edited by Aidan O'Leary · Last updated 30 October 2026
Where it appears
Episode 4, Calypso. Bloom's cat, circling the table leg as Bloom makes breakfast.
—Mkgnao! —O, there you are, Mr Bloom said, turning from the fire.
What it means in plain English
Bloom talks to the cat kindly and wonders how she sees him: “Wonder what I look like to her. Height of a tower? No, she can jump me.”
He pours her milk. The scene shows his gentleness and curiosity before we know anything else about him.
Literary context
Joyce would go further in “Sirens”, where whole passages imitate music and noise.
References
- Ulysses, Episode 4, “Calypso”
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Questions readers ask
Does the cat have a name?
No. Bloom simply calls her “pussens” and “puss”.
Related terms
“Mr Leopold Bloom ate with relish the inner organs of beasts and fowls”
“Mr Leopold Bloom ate with relish the inner organs of beasts and fowls” is the first sentence of Episode 4, “Calypso”, and the reader's first sight of Bloom. Joyce introduces his hero through his appetite, a warm, physical, slightly comic opening that sets Bloom apart from the brooding Stephen.
Leopold Bloom
The central character: a kind, curious advertising canvasser whose wanderings give the novel its shape. Joyce's modern Odysseus.
Pprrpffrrppffff
“Pprrpffrrppffff” is Bloom's fart, the last sound of Episode 11. Bloom reads Robert Emmet's last words in a shop window, and lets go under cover of a passing tram. Joyce ends his musical episode with a final note from the body.