onomatopoeia

onomatopoeia

See also: onomatopoeïa and onomatopœia

English

WOTD – 10 April 2006

Alternative forms

A sign in a shop window in Milan using onomatopoeia for 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/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Audio (GB)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːə

Noun

onomatopoeia (countable and uncountable, plural onomatopoeias or onomatopoeiae)

1. (uncountable) The property of a word of sounding like what it represents.
   • 1553, Thomas Wilson, Desiderius Erasmus, Arte of Rhetorique‎, 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

• echoism
• imitative harmony
• mimesis
• sound symbolism

Related terms

• onomatope
• onomatopoeial
• onomatopoeian
• onomatopoeic
• onomatopoeious
• onomatopoetic

 

Translations

property of a word of sounding like what it represents

Albanian: onomatope (sq) f Arabic: مُحَاكَاة صَوْتِيَّة‎ f (muḥākā(t) ṣawtiyya) Armenian: բնաձայնություն (hy) (bnajaynutʿyun) 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: onomatopoie (cs) f, zvukomalba f Dutch: onomatopee (nl) f Esperanto: onomatopeo (eo) Finnish: onomatopoeettisuus, onomatopoesia (fi) French: onomatopée (fr) f Galician: onomatopeia (gl) f Georgian: ონომატოპეა (ka) (onomaṭoṗea), ხმაბაძვა (xmabaʒva) German: Lautmalerei (de) f, (less commonly also:) Klangnachahmung f, 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) (ぎおん, gion), 擬声 (ja) (ぎせい, gisei) Latin: onomatopoeia f Macedonian: ономатопе́ја f (onomatopéja), подражавање n (podražavanje) Manx: arrish-ockleeaght f Polish: onomatopeja (pl) f Portuguese: onomatopeia (pt) 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) (bnajaynutʿyun) 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: onomatopoion (cs) n Danish: lydord (da) n, onomatopoietikon (da) n Dutch: onomatopee (nl) f, klanknabootsing (nl) f Esperanto: onomatopeo (eo) 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) (ぎおんご, giongo), 擬声語 (ja) (ぎせいご, giseigo), オノマトペ (ja) (onomatope) Korean: 의성어(擬聲語) (ko) (uiseong'eo) Latin: onomatopoëticum/onomatopoeticum, vocabulum onomatopoëticum/onomatopoeticum, vox onomatopoetica 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 Portuguese: onomatopeia (pt) f 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

ideophone, phenomime

Finnish: ideofoni (fi) Japanese: 擬態語 (ja) (ぎたいご, gitaigo)

See also

• Wiktionary's category of English onomatopoeias

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Latin

Alternative forms

• onomatopoeïa

Etymology

From the Ancient Greek ὀνομᾰτοποιῐ́ᾱ (onomatopoiíā).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /o.no.ma.toˈpoe̯.i.a/, [ɔnɔmät̪ɔˈpoe̯iä]
• (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.

Case	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
• Portuguese: onomatopeia
• 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)