The formation of words in imitation of sounds; a figure of speech in which the sound of a word is imitative of the sound of the thing which the word represents.
Such examples of onomatopoeia are beep, boing, boom, burp, clap, crackle, ding, hiccup, ping, pong, plop, pop, poof, thud, tick-tock, swoosh, zap, and zing.
Examples of onomatopoeia
"I'm getting married in the morning!Ding dong! the bells are gonna chime."
(Lerner and Loewe, "Get Me to the Church on Time," My Fair Lady)
"One of these days, Alice. Pow! Right in the kisser!"
(Jackie Gleason, The Honeymooners)
"Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is."(slogan of Alka Seltzer, U.S.)• "Plink, plink, fizz, fizz"(Alka Seltzer, U.K.)
"Klunk! Klick! Every trip"(U.K. promotion for seat belts)• A wacky bird is "cuckoo" for them.(Cocoa Puffs)
Onomatopoeia Etymology: From the Latin, "to make names""
Fun Fact: It is also spelled Onomatopoeia, onomateopoeia, or onomatopœia and is commonly one of the most misspelled words in the English dictionary due to its un-phonetic sound in relation to its spelling.
Click here to read onomatopoeia poems.
