Onomatopoeia
Created | Updated Aug 31, 2007
This is a word, or a group of words, that originate from the action that the object makes: click, buzz, quack.
Origins
Occasionally spelt: onomatopœia. The word derives from the Greek onoma (name) and poio (to make) – loosely meaning name-make.
One might consider that such words might be a precursor to a structured language, until one studies that the noise a dog makes, in English wuff-wuff, is certainly different from that what a dog makes in the following countries: in German wau-wau, in French ouah-ouah, in Russian gaf-gaf.
Modern day usage in the English language:
Bang – a noise a balloon makes when it is pricked with a pin
Splash – a noise water makes when it hits an object
Quack – a noise a duck makes
Roar – a noise a lion makes
Cuckoo – the sound a cuckoo makes
Origins
Occasionally spelt: onomatopœia. The word derives from the Greek onoma (name) and poio (to make) – loosely meaning name-make.
One might consider that such words might be a precursor to a structured language, until one studies that the noise a dog makes, in English wuff-wuff, is certainly different from that what a dog makes in the following countries: in German wau-wau, in French ouah-ouah, in Russian gaf-gaf.
Modern day usage in the English language:
Bang – a noise a balloon makes when it is pricked with a pin
Splash – a noise water makes when it hits an object
Quack – a noise a duck makes
Roar – a noise a lion makes
Cuckoo – the sound a cuckoo makes
