List of onomatopoeias

This is a list of onomatopoeias, i.e. words that imitate, resemble or suggest the source of the sound that they describe. For more information, see the linked articles.

Human vocal sounds

• Achoo, Atishoo
• Babbling
• Cough
• Gargle
• Gibberish
• Hiccup
• Hum (sound)

Sounds made by human actions

• Knock
• Smack
• Thump

Words for people named after sounds

• Barbarian, a person perceived to be uncivilized; derived from a Greek word imitating babbling
• Flibbertigibbet, a flighty or talkative person; derived from a meaningless representation of chattering
• Mleccha, ancient Indian word for a foreigner; derived from a word for indistinct speech

Sounds made by devices or other things

• Awooga, or Aooga
• Beep, a high-pitched signal
• Beep, beep, 1929 word for a car horn
• Ding ding, the sound of a ringing bell
• Fizz, sound of effervescence
• Flutter, sound of rapid motion, e.g. aeroelastic flutter
• Honk, sound of a car horn; also used for the call of a goose
• Oom-pah, the rhythmical sound of a deep brass instrument in a band
• Ping
• Fap
• Plop
• Slosh
• Squish
• Swish
• Tick tick tick, sound of a timer
• Tick tock, sound of a clock
• Vroom, sound of an engine revving up
• Zap, sound of an electrostatic discharge

Things named after sounds

• Choo Choo, childish word for a train, after the sound of a locomotive whistle
• Flip-flops
• Tuk-tuk, word for auto rickshaw in parts of Asia and Africa

Animal and bird names

• Aye-aye
• Bobolink
• Chachalaca
• Cuckoo
• Dik-dik
• Dodo
• Hoopoe
• Kea
• Killdeer
• Mopoke, morepork or boobook owl
• Pobblebonk
• Weero
• Eastern whip-poor-will
• Mexican whip-poor-will
• Zyzzyx, a genus of sand wasp

Animal and bird noises

For sounds listed by the name of the animal, see List of animal sounds.

English words for animal noises include:

• Bark (sound), call of a dog
• Bleat, call of a sheep
• Chirp, bird call
• Chirp, sound made by rubbing together legs or other body parts, e.g. by a cicada
• Growling, low, guttural vocalization produced by predatory animals
• Hiss, sound made by a snake
• Hoot, call of an owl
• Meow, cry of a cat
• Moo, sound of a cow
• Purr, a tonal buzzing sound made by all members of the cat family
• Quack, call of a duck
• Ribbit, sound of some Pacific tree frogs or bullfrogs
• Roar, deep, bellowing outburst made by various animals
• Screech, high-pitched strident or piercing sound, as made by a screech owl

Music groups or terms

• Bebop, a style of jazz
• Ratatat, a New York City experimental electronic rock duo
• Wah-wah (music), the sound of altering the resonance of musical notes to extend expressiveness

Works and characters named after sounds

• "Boum !", a song
• Cock a doodle doo, a nursery rhyme about a cockerel
• Kachi-kachi Yama, a Japanese folktale, named for the crackling of a fire
• Snap, Crackle and Pop, advertising mascots for branded cereal
• Clank, from the famous video game series "Ratchet & Clank"

Sounds in fiction

• Bamf, the sound Nightcrawler makes when teleporting
• Snikt, the sound of Wolverine's claws being extended

See also

• "The Bells", a heavily onomatopoeic poem
• Bling-bling, an ideophone for ostentatious accessories
• Cross-linguistic onomatopoeias

References