Cross-linguistic onomatopoeias

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:

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

Human sounds

Baby crying

Bite

Burp

Fart

Food being eaten

Heart beating

Hushing

Kiss

Laughter

Liquid being drunk

Scream

Shriek

Sneeze

Snoring

Stuttering

Thinking/Pause

Throat swallowing

Tooth brushing

Yawning

Animal sounds

Bee buzzing

Bird singing

Cat meowing

Chicken clucking

Cow mooing

Crow calling

Dog barking

Dog or wolf howling

Donkey braying

Duck calling

Eagle soaring

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

Crash

Door or floor creaking

Engine back-firing while freewheeling

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

Match striking

Telephone ringing

Siren wailing

Train whistling

Physical and natural phenomena

Electric flowing (buzzing)

Electric shock

Fire

Lightning

Steam hissing

Thunder

Water dripping

White water

Wind blowing or waves flowing

Others

Jingling

References

    English words

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

    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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 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

    Portuguese words

    1. pt:Trem da alegria

    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. 1 2 "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. 1 2 "КУМ" in «Словник української мови»

    External links

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