Onomatopoeia (Figures of Speech)

ONOMATOPOEIA (Figures of Speech)

Pronounced ah-nuh-mah-duh-PEE-uh, this describes words that supposedly imitate a sound: guns go bang, blam, or (machine guns) rat-a-tat-tat. Such words are often used in comic books, but many everyday words are also onomatopoeic. For example, clocks tick, bacon sizzles, and trucks rumble; we knock on doors, slap faces, and spray water; dogs woof, pigs oink, and bees buzz; toilets flush, paper rips--many, many "sound" words are actually onomatopoeia!

• Onomatopoetic is an alternative adjective form.

• Some people say that no words are actually onomatopoeic; there are no consonants in sounds, and they differ between cultures. Japanese dogs say wanwan and pigs bu-bu!

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(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)