How do you write a sound? We all know {that a} ball in opposition to a racket makes a thwack, {that a} hen tweets, and that thunder goes increase, however the place do these phrases come from? Right here we’ll discover the which means and use of onomatopoeia, or phrases that, when spoken, mimic sounds related to the issues they discuss with.

What’s an onomatopoeia?

Onomatopoeia, pronounced ah-nuh-mah-tuh-PEE-uh, refers back to the follow of naming one thing primarily based on a phonetic (spoken) imitation of a sound related to it. It may possibly additionally discuss with a single phrase of this type: Hiss is an onomatopoeia. Buzz, chirp, and honk are all additionally examples of onomatopoeia.

As with so many different phrases within the English language, we’ve got classical Greek to thank for onomatopoeia, which originates from the phrases onoma, which means “title,” and poiein, which means “to make.”

In a approach, onomatopoeias are a human try to bypass the step of translating one thing into language altogether by simply reproducing a sound as a way to discuss with the factor or motion that makes it. One factor that makes these phrases fascinating is the way in which they fail to totally do this. For instance, roosters make the identical sound all around the world, however the onomatopoeias for that sound range in several languages: In English, roosters are thought to say “cock-a-doodle-do.” In Spanish, it’s “quiquiriquí.” In Tagalog, it’s “tiktiláok.” In Hindi, it’s “ku-kudu-koo.”

This hybrid nature of onomatopoeias—the truth that they each imitate pure sounds and are formed by human language—makes them potent elements to sprinkle into any sort of writing the place you need the reader to be particularly conscious of the sounds and texture of language.

When are onomatopoeias used?

Onomatopoeia is a determine of speech that’s utilized in each speech and writing. Once you’re speaking or writing concerning the bodily world, using onomatopoeia could make your language extra vividly expressive.

There are just a few common classes of language which might be significantly wealthy with onomatopoeias.

The animal kingdom

Onomatopoeias are available in very useful when describing the animal kingdom. There are a lot of that signify the sounds animals themselves make, comparable to meow or purr for a cat, bark or woof for a canine, quack for a duck, and oink for a pig. These phrases typically perform as each nouns and verbs:

I may hear the canine’s bark from across the nook.

The canine barked so loudly that I may hear her from across the nook.

One other approach that onomatopoeias develop into connected to animals is when an animal is known as after the sound it makes. For instance, many birds are named for his or her calls, together with the cuckoo, the bobwhite, and the chickadee.

Human sounds and actions

There are a lot of onomatopoeias for sounds people make and/or for actions related to sure sounds. Some examples embrace achoo, belch, gargle, growl, hiccup, murmur, and snore.

Nature and objects

The language we use after we’re speaking about nature and inanimate objects provides loads of onomatopoeias. For instance, the sounds related to water give us splash, gurgle, drip, sprinkle, and extra. Objects colliding with one another can clink, clatter, clang, or bang. The machines we use might beep, buzz, chug, click on, ding, honk, hum, or zap.

3 forms of onomatopoeia

Writers, linguists, and literary students have been suggesting methods of sorting onomatopoeias into classes for a whole lot of years, and there’s nonetheless no definitive listing of such classes that’s broadly agreed on. The next three groupings are one framework for enthusiastic about the alternative ways onomatopoeia can perform, from narrowest to broadest.

1
Onomatopoeias that title sounds

Essentially the most fundamental and direct sort of onomatopoeia is a phrase that merely names a sound by imitating it. Lots of the examples of onomatopoeic phrases we’ve already seen belong on this class, together with different phrases like moan, whir, clack, rustle, and thud.

2
Onomatopoeias that title issues related with sounds

The hen names we mentioned within the earlier part—cuckoo, whip-poor-will, and chickadee—are examples of this second kind of onomatopoeia, one diploma faraway from sound itself. These phrases don’t discuss with a sound however to one thing that has a sure sound related to it. One other instance is the phrase whip—a whip is an object named for the sound it makes when in use; it isn’t itself a sound.

3
Onomatopoeias that mimic one thing else bodily

With this third, loosest kind of onomatopoeia, the way in which a phrase is vocalized relates bodily to what it means, however the comparability is to not a sound. Two good examples are the phrases clean and craggy. It doesn’t take a lot effort to say clean, and the absence of onerous consonants makes its sound resemble the comfortable, unbroken really feel of a clean floor. Once you say craggy, then again, with the onerous c and g and its one accented and one unaccented syllable, the sound of it calls to thoughts the tough, sharp, uneven floor of the rocks and cliffs that it describes.

Onomatopoeia examples in literature

Onomatopoeia has lengthy been used to nice impact in literature, in a wide range of methods. These embrace when a novelist invents a brand new phrase to evoke a sound, when a poet makes use of language not normally thought of onomatopoeic to create a soundscape that enriches their topic, and when a comics author makes use of a sound-effect phrase to create a vivid soundtrack for his or her text- and image-based universe. Listed here are some examples, with the onomatopoeias in daring:

“Florry whispers to her. Whispering lovewords murmur liplapping loudly, poppysmic plopslop.”
—James Joyce, Ulysses

In addition to the present onomatopoeias whisper and murmur within the above instance, Joyce additionally created a number of for his personal functions.
“From this hospital mattress / I can hear an engine / respiratory—someplace / within the evening: / —Gentle coal, comfortable coal, / comfortable coal!”
—William Carlos Williams, “The Harm”

Within the above strains, the poet’s repetition of the phrase comfortable coal mimics the sound of the practice.

“Seems just like the Schemer leaves nothing to likelihood! THWIP!”
—The Wonderful Spider-Man, vol. 1, #84

Thwip might be recognizable all around the globe at this level as the enduring sound of Spider-Man capturing his webs.

Onomatopoeia FAQs

What’s onomatopoeia?

Onomatopoeia is the follow of naming one thing with a phrase that phonetically resembles its sound.

How is onomatopoeia used?

Onomatopoeia is commonly utilized in speech and writing to make language extra vividly expressive.

What are some forms of onomatopoeia?

Some onomatopoeias title sounds straight by copying them. Others resemble a sound related to the factor they denote. Nonetheless others use the way in which they’re pronounced to imitate not sound however one thing else bodily, comparable to look, texture, or perhaps a feeling.