What is an Onomatopoeia?

Think of the word "tree". Does anything about the letter T-R-E-E have anything to do with the tree itself? No, not at all. This is the same with most words in a language. The letter B-O-Y in the word "boy" don't really have any connection with what the word means!

Onomatopoeias are really special and different because the letters DO have a connection with what the word means. "BOOM", goes the bomb. "MEOW", sounds really close to the noise a cat makes when it meows. MOOOO, says the cow, and so on!

So, an onotmatopoeia is a word that copies or closely resembles the word it represents.

Onomatopoeia is when a word sounds like what it names or represents. For example, words like "boing", "clap" or "cuckoo" are all onomatopoeic vocabulary. As a literary or artistic choice, onomatopoeia can create a sense of vividness and immediacy, adding a textural dimension to writing through a conscious and playful patterning of sound.

A word that aurally reproduces or represents its meaning; 'pop', 'buzz', 'ding' are pure examples of the term but the English language is also capable of a playful suggestiveness, such as 'stretch' and 'lengthen', where the elongation of the vowel resonance subtly evokes the word's meaning.

A word used to show a noise for example: crash or bang

Onomatopoeia is when the word sounds like it's description. For example "snap, crackle and pop!"

Pronounced ‘on-uh-mat-uh–pee–uh’, Onomatopoeia is defined as a word that imitates the natural sounds of a thing. It creates a sound effect that mimics the thing described, making the description more expressive and interesting.

For example, “The gushing stream flows in the forest” is a more meaningful description than “The stream flows in the forest.” The reader, in a sense, hears the “gushing stream,” thus making the expression more effective.

Further, many onomatopoeic words have developed meanings of their own, such as the word “whisper” which not only represents the wispy or breathy sound of people talking quietly but also describes the action of people talking quietly.

Common Examples of Onomatopoeia

• The buzzing bee flew away.
• The sack fell into the river with a splash.
• The books fell on the table with a loud thump.
• He looked at the roaring fire.
• The rustling leaves kept me awake.

The different sounds of animals are also considered as examples of onomatopoeia. You will recognize the following sounds easily: Meow, Moo, Neigh, Tweet, Oink, Baa

Groups of Onomatopoeic Words

Onomatopoeic words also reflect different sounds of a single object. For example, a group of words reflecting different sounds of water can include plop, splash, gush, sprinkle, drizzle, and drip.

Similarly, words like growl, giggle, grunt, murmur, blurt, and chatter denote different kinds of human voice sounds.

Moreover, we can identify a group of words related to different sounds of wind, such as swish, swoosh, whiff, whoosh, whizz, and whisper.

Onomatopoeia in Comics

Comics show their own examples of different types of onomatopoeia. Different comics use different panels where bubbles show different types of sounds. Although sometimes authors and illustrators show the exact sounds of animals, or the sound of the falling of something or some machines, somethings they create their own sounds as well. These sounds depend upon the inventiveness of the illustrator as well as the writer. Most of these sounds are crash, zap, pow, bang, or repetition of different letters in quick succession intended to create an impression of sounds.

Impacts of Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia not only creates rhythm but also beats, as the poets try to create sounds imitating the sound creators. These sounds create a sensory impression in the minds of the readers which they understand. The readers also understand the impacts of the sounds, their likely meanings, and their roles in creating those meanings. When used in poetry, onomatopoeia creates a rhythmic pattern that imitates the sounds in reality. This vice versa movement of sounds shows the onomatopoeic use of words to create a metrical pattern and rhyme scheme.

Use of Onomatopoeia in Sentences

• When cats are crying miaow, miaow, it means they are hungry.
• As soon as the mother heard the bell sing ding dong, she excitedly ran to open the door.
• When he fell down, there was a ‘whoosh’ he caused a big splash in the water which caused the other swimmers to get up.
• When Mathew dropped his mobile, he heard a ‘crash’ that made him cry immediately.
• Once upon a time, Jeanie rubbed an old lamp and ‘poof’ a real genie appeared in front of her.

Examples of Onomatopoeia in Literature

Onomatopoeia is frequently employed in the literature. We notice, in the following examples, the use of onomatopoeia gives rhythm to the texts. This makes the descriptions livelier and more interesting, appealing directly to the senses of the reader.

Example #1: The Tempest By William Shakespeare

“Hark, hark!

Bow-wow.

The watch-dogs bark!

Bow-wow.

Hark, hark! I hear

The strain of strutting chanticleer

Cry, ‘cock-a-diddle-dow!'”

Example #2: Come Down, O Maid By Alfred Lord Tennyson

“The moan of doves in immemorial elms,

And murmuring of innumerable bees…”

Example #3: For Whom the Bell Tolls By Ernest Hemingway

“He saw nothing and heard nothing but he could feel his heart pounding and then he heard the clack on stone and the leaping, dropping clicks of a small rock falling.”

Example #4: The Marvelous Toy By Tom Paxton

“It went zip when it moved and bop when it stopped,

And whirr when it stood still.

I never knew just what it was and I guess I never will.”

Example #5: Get Me to the Church on Time By Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe

“I’m getting married in the morning!

Ding dong! the bells are gonna chime.”

Example #6: The Bells by Edgar Allen Poe

Keeping time, time, time,

As he knells, knells, knells,

In a happy Runic rhyme,

To the rolling of the bells—

Of the bells, bells, bells—

To the tolling of the bells,

Of the bells, bells, bells, bells—

Bells, bells, bells—

To the moaning and the groaning of the bells.

Onomatopoeia and Phanopoeia

Onomatopoeia, in its more complicated use, takes the form of phanopoeia. Phanopoeia is a form of onomatopoeia that describes the sense of things, rather than their natural sounds. D. H. Lawrence, in his poem Snake, illustrates the use of this form:

“He reached down from a fissure in the earth-wall in the gloom

And trailed his yellow-brown slackness soft-bellied down, over the edge of the stone trough

And rested his throat upon the stone bottom,

And where the water had dripped from the tap, in a small clearness

He sipped with his straight mouth…”

The rhythm and length of the above lines, along with the use of “hissing” sounds, create a picture of a snake in the minds of the readers.

Function of Onomatopoeia

Generally, words are used to tell what is happening. Onomatopoeia, on the other hand, helps readers to hear the sounds of the words they reflect. Hence, the reader cannot help but enter the world created by the poet with the aid of these words. The beauty of onomatopoeic words lies in the fact that they are bound to have an effect on the readers’ senses, whether that effect is understood or not. Moreover, a simple plain expression does not have the same emphatic effect that conveys an idea powerfully to the readers. The use of onomatopoeic words helps create emphasis.

This is one of my favourite language techniques and one that’s more simple than you may think! Onomatopoeia is when words sound like the sound associated with them. So for example; ‘bang’ or ‘crash’.

Hi Dolores,

Onomatopoeia is words that sound a little like they mean. Or words that sound like noises they represent. For example, 'the bell clanged and clattered through the house'.

Onomatopoeia, is the term for a word that relates to sound, such as Buzz, or Zoom. Many of these words use a similar letter combination which helps us understand the sound. As my examples, Buzz or Zoom, the use of the Z lets us know it has speed involved in the sound.

Onomatopoeia refers to those words that resembles to its vocal imitation. For an example buzz, it refers to the sound 'buzz' of a bee

Onomatopoeias are words that look like the sound they make. You see this a lot in comics with words like bang, boom, zoom or zap.

Hi there Dolores, the word Onomatopoeia sounds complicated but the definition is simple.

It is often used for literary effect and they usually phonetically imitate the word they say. For example, screech is pronounced the exact same way as it is read aloud. An example of this used in a sentence is: The pigs oink as they rolled in the mud. Here it would be ‘oink’ that would make this sentence use Onomatopoeia.

An onomatopoeia is a word that is formed by the sound associated with it is describing (example: bang, creak, sizzle, bark)

Hi Dolores! Onomatopoeia is a literary device in which the word sounds exactly like the sound that it makes - Like: Bang, Sizzle, Quack. I also have a really handy tip for remembering how to spell onomatopoeia, sing it to the tune of Old Macdonald had a farm - O N O M A T POEIA! Amazing huh?

Onomatopoeia is simply a word like "clap" which is the sound you make with your hands. So the sound of clapping is the same as the actual word.