Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia is the use of words that imitate the sounds they describe, such as buzz, hiss, thud and splash.

The bees buzzed. The bacon sizzled. The door slammed. Each of these verbs sounds like the thing it names. That is onomatopoeia, from the Greek for "name-making".

Kinds of examples

• Animal sounds. Meow, moo, quack, hiss.
• Impact and motion. Thud, crash, splash, whoosh.
• Voices. Murmur, mumble, babble, whisper.
• Machines. Beep, click, buzz, honk.

Comics use it as a visual device: POW, ZAP, BAM.

In literature

Tennyson wrote of "the murmuring of innumerable bees". The repeated m and n sounds hum like a hive. Edgar Allan Poe's "The Bells" piles up "tinkling", "jingling" and "clanging" until the page rings. Here onomatopoeia combines with alliteration and assonance to make the sound present.

Using it well

A well-chosen sound word does the work of several descriptive ones. "The tap dripped" tells you something. "The tap plinked" lets you hear it. But sound words can also read as childish or comic, so choose them for the tone you want. Fresh, precise ones, such as "the ice ticked in the glass", work better than the worn ones.

Why it matters to a writer or editor

Editors check that a sound word fits the register of the piece and that the same one is not used too often. Check also that it is the right sound: a "thud" and a "thump" are not the same. For related sound devices, see consonance, and for the broader craft of sensory language, imagery.

Frequently asked questions

How do you pronounce onomatopoeia?

On-oh-mat-oh-PEE-uh. It comes from the Greek for 'name-making'.

Are all onomatopoeic words the same in every language?

No. A dog's bark is 'woof' in English, 'wan wan' in Japanese and 'guau' in Spanish. Languages hear the same sound differently and fit it to their own sound systems.

Is onomatopoeia only for sounds?

Mostly, but some writers stretch it to words that seem to echo a motion or texture, such as 'wobble' or 'squelch'.