List of onomatopoeias
From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
This is a list of onomatopoeias, i.e. words that imitate, resemble or suggest the source of the sound that they describe. For more information, see the linked articles.
Contents
- 1 Human vocal sounds
- 2 Sounds made by human actions
- 3 Words for people named after sounds
- 4 Sounds made by devices or other objects
- 5 Things named after sounds
- 6 Animal and bird names
- 7 Animal and bird noises
- 8 Music groups or terms
- 9 Works and characters named after sounds
- 10 Sounds in fiction
- 11 See also
- 12 References
Human vocal sounds
Sounds made by human actions
- Knock
- Smack
- Thump
Words for people named after sounds
- Barbarian, a person perceived to be uncivilized; derived from a Greek word imitating babbling
- Flibbertigibbet, a flighty or talkative person; derived from a meaningless representation of chattering
- Mleccha, ancient Indian word for a foreigner; derived from a word for indistinct speech
Sounds made by devices or other objects
- Awooga, or Aooga
- Beep, a high-pitched signal
- Beep, beep, 1929 word for a car horn
- Ding ding, the sound of a ringing bell
- Fizz, sound of effervescence
- Flutter, sound of rapid motion, e.g. aeroelastic flutter
- Honk, sound of a car horn; also used for the call of a goose
- Oom-pah, the rhythmical sound of a deep brass instrument in a band
- Ping
- Plop
- Slosh
- Squish
- Swish
- Tick tick tick, sound of a timer
- Tick tock, sound of a clock
- Vroom, sound of an engine revving up
- Zap, sound of an electrostatic discharge
Things named after sounds
- Choo Choo, childish word for a train, after the sound of a locomotive whistle
- Flip-flops
- Tuk-tuk, word for auto rickshaw in parts of Asia and Africa
Animal and bird names
- Aye-aye
- Bobolink
- Chachalaca
- Chiffchaff
- Cuckoo
- Dik-dik
- Dodo
- Hoopoe
- Kea
- Killdeer
- Mopoke, morepork or boobook owl
- Pobblebonk
- Weero
- Eastern whip-poor-will
- Mexican whip-poor-will
- Zyzzyx, a genus of sand wasp
Animal and bird noises
For sounds listed by the name of the animal, see List of animal sounds.
English words for animal noises include:
- Bark (sound), call of a dog
- Bleat, call of a sheep
- Chirp, bird call
- Chirp, sound made by rubbing together feet or other body parts, e.g. by a cicada
- Growling, low, guttural vocalization produced by predatory animals
- Hiss, sound made by a snake
- Hoot, call of an owl
- Meow, cry of a cat
- Moo, sound of a cow
- Purr, a tonal buzzing sound made by all members of the cat family
- Quack, call of a duck
- Ribbit, sound of some Pacific tree frogs or bullfrogs
- Roar, deep, bellowing outburst made by various animals
- Screech, high-pitched strident or piercing sound, as made by a screech owl
Music groups or terms
- Bebop, a style of jazz
- Ratatat, a New York City experimental electronic rock duo
- Wah-wah (music), the sound of altering the resonance of musical notes to extend expressiveness
Works and characters named after sounds
- "Boum !", a song
- Cock a doodle doo, a nursery rhyme about a cockerel
- Kachi-kachi Yama, a Japanese folktale, named for the crackling of a fire
- Snap, Crackle and Pop, advertising mascots for branded cereal
- Clank, from the famous video game series "Ratchet & Clank"
Sounds in fiction
- Bamf, the sound Nightcrawler makes when teleporting
- Snikt, the sound of Wolverine's claws being extended
See also
- "The Bells", a heavily onomatopoeic poem
- Bling-bling, an ideophone for ostentatious accessories
- Cross-linguistic onomatopoeias