onomatopoeia

See also: onomatopoeïa and onomatopœia

English

WOTD – 10 April 2006

Alternative forms

A sign in a shop window in Milan using the onomatopoeia tic tac to represent the sound of a clock

• onomatopeia, onomatopœia

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ὀνοματοποιία (onomatopoiía, “the coining of a word in imitation of a sound”), from ὀνοματοποιέω (onomatopoiéō, “to coin names”), from ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”) + ποιέω (poiéō, “to make, to do, to produce”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌɒnəˌmætəˈpiːə/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˌɒnəˌmɛtəˈpæɪə/
• (US) enPR: än'ə-măt'ə-pēʹə or än'ə-mät'ə-pēʹə, IPA^(key): /ˌɑnəˌmætəˈpiːə/, /ˌɑnəˌmɑtəˈpiːə/
• (US, chiefly Midwestern) IPA^(key): /ˌɑnəˌmɑnəˈpiːə/, [ˌänɪˌmänʌˈpʰɪi̯ːjʌ]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːə

Noun

onomatopoeia (countable and uncountable, plural onomatopoeias or onomatopoeiae)

1. (uncountable) The property of a word that sounds like what it represents.
   • 1553, Thomas Wilson, Desiderius Erasmus, Arte of Rhetorique‎^[1], Oxford: Clarendon Press, published 1909:

     A woorde making called of the Grecians Onomatapoia, is when wee make wordes of our owne minde, such as bee derived from the nature of things.

2. (countable) A word that sounds like what it represents, such as "gurgle", "stutter", or "hiss".
   1. (countable) A word that appropriates a sound for another sensation or a perceived nature, such as "thud", "beep", or "meow"; an ideophone, phenomime.
3. (uncountable, rhetoric) The use of language whose sound imitates that which it names.

Synonyms

• (instance): onomatope; phonomime
• (process or state):
  • echoism
  • imitative harmony
  • mimesis
  • phonomimesis
  • sound symbolism

   

Related terms

• onomatope
• onomatopoeial
• onomatopoeian
• onomatopoeic
• onomatopoeious
• onomatopoetic
• onomatopoetical
• onomatopoetically

 

Translations

property of a word that sounds like what it represents

• Albanian: onomatope (sq) f
• Arabic: مُحَاكَاة صَوْتِيَّة f (muḥākā(t) ṣawtiyya)
• Armenian: բնաձայնություն (hy) (bnajaynutʻyun)
• Basque: onomatopeia
• Bulgarian: ономатопе́я f (onomatopéja)
• Catalan: onomatopeia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 象聲／象声 (zh) (xiàngshēng), 擬聲／拟声 (zh) (nǐshēng), 狀聲／状声 (zhuàngshēng)

• Czech: zvukomalba f, onomatopoie (cs) f
• Danish: onomatopoietikon (da) n
• Dutch: onomatopee (nl) f
• Esperanto: onomatopeo (eo)
• Estonian: onomatopöa, helijäljendus
• Finnish: onomatopoeettisuus, onomatopoesia (fi)
• French: onomatopée (fr) f
• Galician: onomatopeia (gl) f
• Georgian: ონომატოპეა (ka) (onomaṭoṗea), ხმაბაძვა (xmabaʒva)
• German: Lautmalerei (de) f, Klangnachahmung f (less common), Lautnachahmung f, Schallnachahmung f, Onomatopöie (de) f, Onomatopoesie (de) f
• Greek: ονοματοποιία (el) f (onomatopoiía)
• Hindi: स्वनानुकरणात्मक ? (svanānukarṇātmak), अनुकरण (hi) m (anukraṇ)
• Hungarian: hangutánzó jelleg
• Icelandic: hljóðgerving (is) f
• Indonesian: onomatopoeia (id), pembentukan kata yg meniru suara
• Irish: onamataipé f, fuaimfhoclaíocht f
• Italian: onomatopea (it) f
• Japanese: 擬音 (ja) (gion), 擬声 (ja) (gisei)
• Latin: onomatopoeia f
• Macedonian: ономатопе́ја f (onomatopéja), подражавање n (podražavanje)
• Manx: arrish-ockleeaght f
• Norwegian: onomatopoetikon (no) n
• Polish: onomatopeja (pl) f
• Portuguese: onomatopeia (pt) f
• Romanian: onomatopee (ro) f
• Russian: звукоподража́ние (ru) n (zvukopodražánije), ономатопе́я (ru) f (onomatopéja)
• Spanish: onomatopeya (es) f
• Swedish: onomatopoetikon (sv) c
• Tagalog: sintunog, onomatopeya
• Vietnamese: tượng thanh (vi)
• Yoruba: ìfìrósínròójẹ

word that sounds like what it represents

• Albanian: onomatope (sq) f
• Armenian: բնաձայնություն (hy) (bnajaynutʻyun)
• Bulgarian: ономатопея f (onomatopeja)
• Catalan: onomatopeia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 象聲詞／象声词 (zh) (xiàngshēngcí), 擬聲詞／拟声词 (zh) (nǐshēngcí), 擬聲語／拟声语 (nǐshēngyǔ), 狀聲詞／状声词 (zh) (zhuàngshēngcí)

• Czech: zvukomalebné slovo n, onomatopoion (cs) n
• Danish: lydord (da) n, onomatopoietikon (da) n
• Dutch: onomatopee (nl) f, klanknabootsing (nl) f
• Esperanto: onomatopeo (eo)
• Estonian: kõlasõna
• Faroese: ljóðorð n
• Finnish: onomatopoeettinen sana
• French: onomatopée (fr) f
• Galician: onomatopeia (gl) f
• German: lautmalerisches Wort n, lautmalendes Wort n, lautnachahmendes Wort n, klangnachahmendes Wort n, onomatopoetisches Wort n, Klangwort n, Schallwort (de) n, Onomatopoetikum (de) n
• Greek: ονοματοποιία (el) f (onomatopoiía)
• Hindi: स्वनानुकरणात्मक ? (svanānukarṇātmak), अनुकरण (hi) m (anukraṇ)
• Hungarian: hangutánzó-hangulatfestő/hangfestő szó
• Icelandic: hljóðlíkingarorð n, hljóðgervingur (is) m
• Italian: onomatopea (it) f
• Japanese: 擬音語 (ja) (giongo), 擬声語 (ja) (giseigo), 擬態語 (ja) (gitaigo), オノマトペ (ja) (onomatope)
• Korean: 의성어(擬聲語) (ko) (uiseong'eo)
• Latin: onomatopoëticum n, onomatopoēticum n (cf. vocābulum onomatopoëticum, vocābulum onomatopoēticum, vōx onomatopoētica)
• Macedonian: ономатопе́ја f (onomatopéja), подражавање n (podražavanje)
• Manx: ^{(please verify)} arrish-ockleeaght f
• Maori: kupu ororite, kupu pakoire oro
• Norwegian: lydord n, onomatopoetikon (no) m or n
• Persian: نام‌آوا (fa) (namava)
• Polish: onomatopeja (pl) f, wyraz dźwiękonaśladowczy (pl) m
• Portuguese: onomatopeia (pt) f
• Punjabi: صوت f (ṣot), ਸੌਤ (pa) f (saut)
• Romanian: onomatopee (ro) f
• Russian: звукоподража́ние (ru) n (zvukopodražánije), ономатопе́я (ru) f (onomatopéja)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ономатопе́ја f

  Roman: onomatopéja (sh) f

• Shuar: métek-chícham
• Spanish: onomatopeya (es) f
• Tagalog: sintunog, onomatopeya
• Turkish: onomatope (tr), yansıma sözcük
• Vietnamese: từ tượng thanh
• Welsh: onomatopeia m

See also

• ideophone
• Wiktionary's category of English onomatopoeias

Latin

Alternative forms

• onomatopoeïa

Etymology

From the Ancient Greek ὀνομᾰτοποιῐ́ᾱ (onomatopoiíā).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /o.no.ma.toˈpoe̯.i.a/, [ɔnɔmät̪ɔˈpoe̯iä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /o.no.ma.toˈpe.i.a/, [onomät̪oˈpɛːiä]

Noun

onomatopoeia f (genitive onomatopoeiae); first declension

1. (rhetoric) onomatopoeia (the forming of a word to resemble in sound the thing that it signifies)

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	onomatopoeia	onomatopoeiae
genitive	onomatopoeiae	onomatopoeiārum
dative	onomatopoeiae	onomatopoeiīs
accusative	onomatopoeiam	onomatopoeiās
ablative	onomatopoeiā	onomatopoeiīs
vocative	onomatopoeia	onomatopoeiae

Descendants

• French: onomatopée
• English: onomatopoeia
• Italian: onomatopea
• Spanish: onomatopeya

References

• “ŏnŏmătŏpoeïa”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ŏnŏmătŏpœĭa in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 1,080/2.
• “onomatopoeia”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “onomatopoeia” on page 1,250/1 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)