Cross-linguistic onomatopoeias

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Because of the nature of onomatopoeia, there are many words which show a similar pronunciation in the languages of the world. The following is a list of some conventional examples:

Contents

Human sounds

Baby crying

Bite

Burp

Fart

Food being eaten

Heart beating

Hushing

Kiss

Laughter

  • In Afrikaans, ha ha ha
  • In Arabic hà hà hà, hee hee
  • In Armenian ka ka ka, cha cha cha քա քա քա, չա չա չա
  • In Asturian ḥa ḥa ḥa, ḥe ḥe ḥe
  • In Basque, kar kar kar
  • In Batak, kakak
  • In Bengali, ha ha, hee hee, ho ho
  • In Bulgarian, hahaha хахаха, hehehe хехехе, hihihi хихихи
  • In Catalan, hahaha, hehehe
  • In Chinese, Mandarin hā hā 哈哈,[zho 4] hē hē 呵呵,[zho 5] xī xī 嘻嘻[zho 6] hēi hēi 嘿嘿
  • In Croatian, ha ha ha, he he he, hi hi hi
  • In Czech, ha ha, cha cha [xa xa], chi chi [xi xi]
  • In Danish, ha ha, hi hi, hæ hæ, ho ho, ti hi
  • In Dutch, haha, hihi
  • In English, hahaha, heh-heh, hohoho, (tee)heehee
  • In Estonian, haha, hahhah, hehe, hehheh, hihi
  • In Finnish, haha, hahhah, hehe, hehheh, hihi, hihihi (girly), höhö (unintelligent)
  • In French, hahaha, héhéhé, hihihi, hohoho
  • In German, hahaha, hihihihi
  • In Greek: haha χαχα, hehe χεχε
  • In Hebrew, xà xà xà חָה־חָה־חָה[heb 1]
  • In Hungarian, haha, hehe, hihi
  • In Icelandic, haha, hehe, (tittering or laughter) híhí
  • In Indonesian, hahaha, hehehe, wakakaka, 'wkwkwk'
  • In Italian, ah, ah, eh, eh, ih, ih, uh, uh
  • In Japanese, ahaha あはは, フフ (fu fu)
  • In Kazakh, қарқ-қарқ
  • In Korean, hahaha 하하하, kekeke 케케케
  • In Latvian, ha ha
  • In Lithuanian, cha cha
  • In Marathi, ha ha हा हा, kho kho खो खो (loud laughter)
  • In Nepali, ha, ahaha
  • In Persian, hā-hā, he-he, qah-qāh
  • In Polish, hahaha, hihi, hehe, hohoho
  • In Portuguese, hahaha, kakaka, huehuahuehua
  • In Romanian, ha-ha, hi-hi
  • In Russian, haha хаха, hihi хихи, hèhè хехе
  • In Serbian, hahaha хахаха, hihihi хихихи, hehehe хехехе
  • In Spanish, jajaja, jejeje
  • In Tagalog, hahaha, hehehe, hihihi
  • In Thai, ฮ่า ๆ ๆ (hahaha)
  • In Turkish, haha, hehe, hihi (girly), kikir (girly, sarcastic), hoho (sarcastic)
  • In Vietnamese, ha ha, hi hi, hô hô

Liquid being drunk

Scream

Shriek

Sneeze

Snoring

Stuttering

Thinking/Pause

Throat swallowing

Tooth brushing

Yawning

Animal sounds

Bee buzzing

Bird singing

  • In Afrikaans, twiet twiet
  • In Albanian ciu-ciu
  • In Arabic siqsiq سِقسِق,gharid (to chirp) غِرد, ziw ziw ziw زِيد زِيد زِيد
  • In Armenian jiv jiv ճիւ ճիւ
  • In Basque (Euskara), txio txio
  • In Bengali, kichir michir
  • In Bosnian, čip čip
  • In Bulgarian, chik-chirik чик-чирик
  • In Catalan, piu piu
  • In Chinese, Mandarin jī jī zhā zhā 叽叽喳喳[zho 10]
  • In Croatian, čip čip
  • In Czech, píp píp, cvrliki
  • In Danish, pip pip
  • In Dutch, twiet twiet, tjierp, tjielp, tsjilp
  • In English, chirp chirp, tweet tweet, cheep cheep, peep peep
  • In Estonian, siuts siuts, siit siit, tsirr tsirr, sirts sirts, siu siu
  • In Finnish, tsirp tsirp, tviit, piip piip, ti-ti-tyy (great tit)
  • In French, cui cui, piou piou
  • In German, piep piep /peep, peep/, tschiep
  • In Greek, tsiu tsiu τσίου τσίου
  • In Hebrew, tsif tsif צִיף־צִיף,[heb 4] tswits tswits צְוִיץ־צְוִיץ[heb 4]
  • In Hindi, cheh cheh
  • In Hungarian, csip-csirip
  • In Icelandic, bíbí
  • In Indonesian, cit-cit, cicitcuit
  • In Italian, cip cip, pio pio (chick)
  • In Japanese, it varies: (chick) ピヨ ピヨ (piyo piyo), ひいひい (hī, hī), chun chun チュンチュン
  • In Kazakh, шыр-шыр, шық-шық
  • In Korean, jjaek jjaek 짹짹
  • In Latvian, čiu čiu, čiv čiv
  • In Lithuanian, čik čirik, čyru vyru
  • In Macedonian, churulic churulic чурулик чурулик
  • In Malayalam, coo coo
  • In Malay, cip cip
  • In Marathi, kil-bil किलबिल, chiw-chiw छिव-छिव, coohoo-coohoo कुहू-कुहू, kil-kil किल-किल, kaw-kaw काव-काव
  • In Persian, čah-čah, čah-čahe
  • In Polish, ćwir ćwir, fiu-fiu (and others)
  • In Portuguese, piu piu
  • In Romanian, cip cirip, piu piu
  • In Russian, chiric-chiric чирик-чирик, chic-chiric чик-чирик, chiv-chiv чив-чив
  • In Serbian, choo choo
  • In Sinhalese, kumu kumu කුමු-කුමු
  • In Slovak, píp píp, čvirik, čvirik
  • In Slovene, čiv čiv
  • In Spanish, pío, pío
  • In Swedish, kvitt, kvitt
  • In Tagalog, twit twit twit
  • In Tamil, koo, koo
  • In Thai, จิ๊บ ๆ (chip chip)
  • In Turkish, cik cik, cibili cibili şak şak /dʒik dʒik/
  • In Ukrainian, t'okh-t'okh тьох-тьох, fit'-fit' фіть-фіть
  • In Vietnamese, chíp chíp

Cat meowing

Chicken clucking

Cow mooing

Crow calling

Dog barking

Dog or wolf howling

Donkey braying

Duck calling

Eagle soaring

  • In Batak, kuliii-kulikuk

Elephant trumpeting

Frog croaking

This may differ according to the species of frog common in each language's speech area.

Goose calling

Horse whinnying

Horse trotting

Lion roaring

Monkey chatting

Owl hooting

Pig grunting

Rooster crowing

Sheep bleating

Snake hissing

Collisions, bursts, and strikes

Balloon or bubble bursting

Cannon firing; gunshot; machine gun fire

  • In Albanian, pam; tak
  • In Arabic, bom; bov, tokh طخ
  • In Basque, damba damba
  • In Bengali, goom goom
  • In Bulgarian, bum бум, kh кх, tatatata тататата
  • In Catalan, buuum, pumba; pam, pum; ratatatatà
  • In Chinese, Mandarin, pēng 砰; ping, pa 乒, 啪; da da da... 嗒嗒嗒[citation needed]
  • In Croatian, bum, pam, puf
  • In Czech, bum, prásk, ratatata
  • In Danish, bang, bum
  • In Dutch, boem; pang, pauw; ratatata
  • In English, bam, boom, blam, kaboom; bang, pow; rat-at-at-at-at-at, gat-gat-gat-gat, dakka-dakka
  • In Estonian, põmm, kõmm; pauh, karpauh
  • In Finnish, pum; pam; ra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta, rä-tä-tä-tä-tä-tä
  • In French, boum; pan
  • In German, bumm, rumms, kawumm; peng, puff, päng; rat-tat-tat-tat
  • In Greek, cabum, bum μπουμ, bam μπαμ; bam, pan, piu-piu (mainly by kids); trrrrrr
  • In Hebrew, bum בּוּם
  • In Hindi, thaa
  • In Hungarian bumm, dörr; ratata, trrrrr
  • In Icelandic, búmm; bamm
  • In Indonesian, dor,
  • In Italian, bum; bang; pum
  • In Japanese, バーンバーン (bān bān), dōn ドーン, bakyūn バキューン
  • In Kannada, dum, dhaam
  • In Kazakh, bydyrsch быдырщ
  • In Korean, ppang
  • In Latvian, bum
  • In Lithuanian, bumpt, bum, pokšt
  • In Persian, bang
  • In Macedonian, bum бум; pau пау; ra ta ta ta ра та та та
  • In Marathi, Dhishkyaon ढिश्क्यँव, dhishum धिशुम
  • In Polish, bum-bum; bang-bang, pif-paf and others; tra ta ta ta ta
  • In Portuguese, bam, boom, cabum; ,pum; ratátátá
  • In Romanian, bum; poc
  • In Russian, ba-bakh ба-бах; pif-paf пиф-паф; tra-ta-ta тра-та-та
  • In Sinhalese, ḍisum ඩිසුම්; ḍung ඩුං; ḍaka-ḍaka-ḍaka ඩක-ඩක-ඩක
  • In Spanish, pum; bang; praca
  • In Swedish, bom; pang, bang
  • In Tagalog, boom; boogsh
  • In Tamil, dishum
  • In Telugu, dishyoom
  • In Thai, ตูม (tuum, cannon firing); ปัง (pang, gunshot)
  • In Turkish, bom; bam, dıkşınyaa (by kids)
  • In Uropi, bam (cannon), pang (gun)
  • In Vietnamese, đoàng (louder); pằng (quieter); bùm (usually for cannons)

Crash

Door or floor creaking

Engine back-firing while freewheeling

  • In Batak, put-put-put, doput-doput
  • In Italian, rrra-tatatatata...
  • In Romanian, pâr pâr
  • In Russian, dìr-dìr-dìr дыр-дыр-дыр

Knocking

Strikes

Dull strike

Falling strike

Sharp strike

Wet strike

Machinery

Camera shutter

Car engine revving

Car horn honking

Clock ticking

A sign in a shop window in Italy proclaims "No Tic Tac".

Doorbell ringing

Keyboard striking

  • In Batak, tik tik
  • In Bulgarian, trak-trak трак-трак
  • In Catalan txiquiti-txiquiti, txic txic.
  • In Czech, klik, ťuk ťuk
  • In Danish: klik klik
  • In Dutch: tik tik
  • In English: click click, click clack, taka taka
  • In Estonian klõp klõp klõp
  • In Finnish: klik klik, klik klak, naks, naputinap
  • In French: clic clic
  • In German: klack klack klack (typewriter), tipp tipp tipp (computer)
  • In Hebrew, klik klik, קְלִיק־קְלִיק[heb 9]
  • In Italian, clic clic, tip tap
  • In Japanese, kata kata カタカタ
  • In Polish, klik klik
  • In Russian, klatz-klatz клац-клац
  • In Swedish, knapp knapp
  • In Tagalog, chu ku chu ku chuk
  • In Thai, ก้อกแก้ก (kokkaek)
  • In Turkish, tıkı tıkı tıkı, tıkır tıkır
  • In Vietnamese, lạch cạch

Match striking

. In Bengali, phash

Telephone ringing

Siren wailing

Train whistling

Physical and natural phenomena

Electric flowing (buzzing)

Electric shock

Fire

  • In Afrikaans, knetter
  • In English, crackle crackle
  • In German, knister knister
  • In Japanese, Pachi pachi パチパチ
  • In Polish, trzask
  • In Swedish, knaster knaster
  • In Thai, พรึ่บ (prueb), พรึ่บ พรั่บ (prueb prub)

Lightning

Steam hissing

Thunder

  • In Batak, rapak, maturapak, dugu-dugu-dugu
  • In Bengali, kar kar, gur gur
  • In English, roll, rumble,boom
  • In Finnish, jyrin, jylin
  • In German, groll, grummel
  • In Japanese, goro goro ゴロゴロ
  • In Marathi, gad-gad गड्-गड्
  • In Polish, grzmot
  • In Romanian, bum
  • In Russian, babakh бабах, tararakh тарарах, trakh-tararakh трах-тарарах
  • In Swedish, muller
  • In Thai, ครืน ครืน (kruen kruen)

Water dripping

White water

Wind blowing or waves flowing

  • In Bengali, ভোঁ bhõ, শন শন shôn shôn, ঝির ঝির jhir jhir
  • In Bulgarian, fiiuu фииуу
  • In Chinese, Mandarin, fuuu
  • In Croatian, fiju
  • In Czech, fíííí
  • In Dutch, woesh, woesj
  • In English, whoo, whoosh, swish, rustle, whine, whizz, whistle, wheeze, howl, zoom, sigh, sough, surf
  • In Finnish, viuuh
  • In French, frou-frou, vromb, murmur, hurl
  • In German, huiiih, wutsch, saus, rausch, wein, schwirr, heul, zoom, surr, seufz
  • In Greek, fru fru φρού φρού, sfýrigh σφύριγ, url ούρλ, sýrigh σύριγ, thýr θυρ
  • In Hindi, sarr sarr, saayein saayein
  • In Hungarian, hiss-huss, huss
  • In Italian, fiuu, fisch, mormor, url, sussurr
  • In Japanese, byuu byuu, pyuu pyuu, zawa zawa, soyo soyo
  • In Korean, wing-wing 윙윙
  • In Lithuanian, ššš
  • In Macedonian, fuuuu fuuuu фуууу фуууу
  • In Polish, szszszsz, huuuuuu
  • In Portuguese, Vuuuush
  • In Romanian, vâj
  • In Russian, uu-u уу-у
  • In Spanish, fuuuu fuuuu, fgrrrr frgrrrr, aul, zumb, susurr
  • In Swedish, svisch
  • In Tagalog, fuuuu fuuuu
  • In Tamil, shhhhhhhhhh
  • In Telugu, shhhhhhh
  • In Thai, วิ้ว วิ้ว (wio wio), ฟิ้ว ฟิ้ว (fio fio)
  • In Turkish, vuuuu vuuuu
  • In Vietnamese, vi vu, vù vù; rì rào, xào xạc (rustling)

Others

Jingling

  • In Afrikaans, klingel, klingeling
  • In Armenian zar zank զար զանկ
  • In Bengali, rini-jhini
  • In Chinese, Cantonese, dìuh-díu fihng 吊吊捹 (吊 means "hang")
  • In Chinese, Mandarin, dīng líng 叮铃,[zho 21] dīng dāng 叮当 [zho 22]
  • In Batak, giring, giring
  • In Bulgarian, ljush-bash люш-баш, ding-dong динг-донг
  • In Croatian, ding dong
  • In Czech, cinky-cink
  • In Dutch, doing-doing-doing
  • In English, clink clank, dingle dangle
  • In Estonian kill-kõll, kilks-kõlks, kilin-kõlin
  • In Finnish, kilin, helin
  • In French, ding-dong
  • In German, klingeling
  • In Hebrew, ding-dong דִינְג־דוֹנְג[heb 10]
  • In Hungarian, csing-ling, bim-bam, giling-galang
  • In Japanese, チリンチリン (chirin chirin), チーン (chīn)
  • In Korean, dallang dallang 달랑달랑 ttallang ttallang 딸랑딸랑 jjallang jjallang 짤랑짤랑
  • In Latvian, dzin dzin
  • In Macedonian, dang, ding, dong данг, динг, донг
  • In Polish, dzyń-dzyń
  • In Romanian, ding-dong
  • In Russian, din'-don динь-дон dzìnj-dzìnj дзынь-дзынь
  • In Swedish, dingelidång kling klang
  • In Tagalog, klang klang
  • In Tamil, sil-sila silu-sila
  • In Thai, เคร้ง (kreng), กรุ๊งกริ๊ง (krung kring)
  • In Turkish, çangır çungur, şangır şungur

References

English words

  1. "wah-wah" from the Oxford English Dictanionary

Greek words

  1. http://www.greek-language.gr/greekLang/modern_greek/tools/lexica/triantafyllides/search.html?lq=%CE%BF%CF%85%CE%AC&dq=

Hebrew words

  1. "חָה חָה חָה" in Morfix online dictionary
  2. "Ouch" in Morfix online dictionary
  3. "אַפְּצִ'י" in Morfix online dictionary
  4. 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 Animals sounds in Hebrew, HaSafa-HaIvrit (The Hebrew Language) web site (in Hebrew)
  5. "Bang" in Babylon dictionary
  6. "תּוּק תּוּק" in Morfix online dictionary
  7. "זְבֶּנְג" in Morfix online dictionary
  8. "תִּיק־תַּק" in Morfix online dictionary
  9. "קְלִיק" in Morfix online dictionary
  10. "דִינְג־דוֹנְג" in Morfix online dictionary

Japanese words

  1. http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?enc=UTF-8&p=%E3%81%8A%E3%81%8E%E3%82%83%E3%81%82&dtype=0&dname=0ss&stype=0&pagenum=1&index=102476500000
  2. http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?p=%E3%82%80%E3%81%97%E3%82%83%E3%82%80%E3%81%97%E3%82%83&stype=0&dtype=0
  3. http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?p=%E3%82%82%E3%81%90%E3%82%82%E3%81%90&stype=0&dtype=0
  4. http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?p=%E3%83%91%E3%82%AF%E3%83%91%E3%82%AF&stype=0&dtype=0
  5. http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?p=%E3%81%A9%E3%81%8D%E3%81%A9%E3%81%8D&stype=0&dtype=0
  6. http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?enc=UTF-8&p=%E3%81%8D%E3%82%83&dtype=0&dname=0ss&stype=0&index=104697200000&pagenum=1
  7. http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?p=%E3%81%AF%E3%81%8F%E3%81%97%E3%82%87%E3%82%93&stype=0&dtype=0
  8. http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?p=%E3%81%90%E3%81%86%E3%81%90%E3%81%86&stype=0&dtype=0
  9. http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?p=%E3%81%94%E3%81%8F%E3%81%A3&stype=0&dtype=0

Marathi words

  1. "प्राण्यांचे_आवाज" from the Marathi Wikipedia

Portuguese words

  1. pt:Trem da alegria[better source needed]

Chinese words

  1. "哇哇" in Han Dian online dictionary
  2. "怦怦" in Han Dian online dictionary
  3. "嘘" in Han Dian online dictionary
  4. "哈哈" in Han Dian online dictionary
  5. "呵呵" in Han Dian online dictionary
  6. "嘻嘻" in Han Dian online dictionary
  7. "阿嚏" in Han Dian online dictionary
  8. "呼噜" in Han Dian online dictionary
  9. "嗡嗡" in Han Dian online dictionary
  10. "叽叽喳喳" in Han Dian online dictionary
  11. "喵" in Han Dian online dictionary
  12. "哞" in Han Dian online dictionary
  13. "哑哑" in Han Dian online dictionary
  14. "汪汪" in Han Dian online dictionary
  15. "嘎嘎" in Han Dian online dictionary
  16. 16.0 16.1 "呱呱" in Han Dian online dictionary
  17. "咩" in Han Dian online dictionary
  18. "哐啷" in Han Dian online dictionary
  19. "嘀嗒" in Han Dian online dictionary
  20. "滴答" in Han Dian online dictionary
  21. "叮铃" in Han Dian online dictionary
  22. "叮当" in Han Dian online dictionary

Ukrainian words

  1. "КВА" in «Словник української мови»
  2. 2.0 2.1 "КУМ" in «Словник української мови»

External links