onomatopoeia

See also: onomatopœia

English

WOTD – 10 April 2006

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

Alternative forms

• onomatopœia, onomatopy (archaic)
• onomatopeia (obsolete)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥

Proto-Hellenic *ónomə

Ancient Greek ὄνομᾰ (ónomă)

Proto-Indo-European *kʷey-der.

Proto-Hellenic *kʷoiwéyō

Ancient Greek ποιέω (poiéō)

Ancient Greek ὀνομᾰτοποιός (onomătopoiós)

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂

Proto-Hellenic *-íā

Ancient Greek -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā)

Ancient Greek ὀνομᾰτοποιῐ́ᾱ (onomătopoiĭ́ā)der.

Latin onomatopoeïabor.

English onomatopoeia

Borrowed from Latin onomatopoeïa, 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”). By surface analysis, onomato- +‎ -poeia.

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/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (Australia):

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• Audio (UK):

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• 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 January, Thomas Wilson, “Word Making”, in The Arte of Rhetorique, […], London: Richardus Graftonus, […], →OCLC, folio 92, verso:

     A woꝛde makinge called of the Grecians Onomatopeia is when we make woꝛdes of oure owne mynde, ſuche as be deriued from the nature of thinges.

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

Derived terms

• onomatopoetry

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)
• Azerbaijani: səs təqlidi
• 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 (cs) 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: onomatopoeïa 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
• Turkish: yansıma (tr), yansımalı sözcük
• Vietnamese: tượng thanh (vi)
• Yoruba: ìfìrósínròójẹ

word that sounds like what it represents

• Albanian: onomatope (sq) f
• Armenian: բնաձայնություն (hy) (bnajaynutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: təqlidi söz
• 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), sonimito (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: onomatopoēticum n, vocābulum onomatopoēticum n
• Macedonian: ономатопе́ја f (onomatopéja), подражавање n (podražavanje)
• Manx: ^{(please verify)} arrish-ockleeaght f
• Māori: 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

  Latin: onomatopéja (sh) f

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

See also

• ideophone
• Wiktionary's category of English onomatopoeias

Latin

Etymology

Derived from Ancient Greek ὀνομᾰτοποιῐ́ᾱ (onomătopoiĭ́ā).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ɔ.nɔ.ma.tɔˈpoe̯.i.a]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [o.no.ma.toˈpɛː.i.a]

Noun

onomatopoeïa f (genitive onomatopoeïae); 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	onomatopoeïa	onomatopoeïae
genitive	onomatopoeïae	onomatopoeïārum
dative	onomatopoeïae	onomatopoeïīs
accusative	onomatopoeïam	onomatopoeïās
ablative	onomatopoeïā	onomatopoeïīs
vocative	onomatopoeïa	onomatopoeïae

Descendants

• → English: onomatopoeia
• → French: onomatopée
• → Italian: onomatopea
• → Portuguese: onomatopeia
• → Spanish: onomatopeya
  • → Tagalog: 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)