onomatopoeia

An onomatopoeia is the forming of a word by imitating the sound the word is referring to, as in bang, meaning “a loud, explosive sound,” and meow, meaning “the sound a cat makes.”

The words themselves are also known as onomatopoeias.

Many commonly used words are onomatopoeias. Onomatopoeias are used to give a sense of action or intensity to writing or drawings.

CRASH! BOOM! KAPOW! OINK? Onomatopoeias are fun words that give a little pizzazz to writing or drawings.

The first records of the term onomatopoeia come from around 1570. It comes from the Greek onomatopoiía, meaning “making of words.”

Onomatopoeia has been used in many works of writing and sometimes shows up in artwork. Most onomatopoeias are words that represent sounds, such as animal calls (cows moo, birds tweet) and other noises (woosh, boom, and thump). But onomatopoeias can describe actions as well, such as poof, splash, and sizzle.

In writing, onomatopoeias are used to enhance a sentence or provide atmosphere to a scene, as in The bull crashed through the china shop. You can almost hear the china crashing in a way that you don’t in The bull ran through the china shop.

If you watch cartoons or read comic books, you have probably seen a good example of how onomatopoeia can be used to increase intensity or excitement. Whether Batman is punching the Joker with a heroic “pow!” or Daffy Duck is blowing himself up with a loud “kaboom!” onomatopoeias are providing the sound effects of our everyday lives.

Onomatopoeia is almost cliché in superhero comic books. Comic books have also featured some truly unique onomatopoeias, such as zonk, bamf, and even vjjjwommmwwwb.

This drawing gives some examples of common onomatopoeias:

Many people are big fans of onomatopoeia as long as they don’t actually have to spell it.

Is the name of every pokemon an onomatopoiea? Because that's the actual sound that it makes

— 🍬 juniper 🍬 (@juniper_mint) February 19, 2020

A truck honked twice and I yelled back "SNERT SNERT," which is terrible onomatopoiea, honestly

— zusty ebooks (@zusty_ebooks) February 4, 2016

• sound
• noise
• action
• intensity
• sound effect
• comic book

True or False?

The word bang is an example of onomatopoeia.