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
• Chomp
• Cough
• Hiccup
• Hum

Sounds made by devices or other objects[]

• Awooga, or Aooga, the sound of an old-fashioned vehicle horn
• Bang, the sound of an explosion or a gunshot
• Boom, the sound of an explosion
• Beep, a high-pitched signal
• Beep, beep, 1929 word for a car horn
• Ching, the sound of metal on metal
• Clang, a loud vibration or collision
• Clatter
• Clink, the sound of glass on glass
• Crackle, the sound of wood burning
• Crash, the sound of a heavy object falling or colliding
• Creak, the sound a door makes when opening
• Ding dong, 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
• Kaboom, the sound of an explosion
• Knock, the sound of a knuckle or a knocker lightly striking a door
• Oom-pah, the rhythmical sound of a deep brass instrument in a band
• Ping
• Plop
• Pop
• Rumble
• Sizzle
• Slosh
• Snap, the sound of a twig breaking or wet wood on a fire
• Splat, the sound a tomato makes when it hits a hard surface
• Splash, sound of water upon disturbance
• Squish
• Swish
• Tap
• Thump
• Tick tick tick, sound of a timer
• Tick tock, sound of a clock
• Toot
• Vroom, sound of an engine revving up
• Whirr
• Whoosh, sound of the wind
• Zap, sound of an electrostatic discharge

Things named after sounds[]

• Choo Choo, childish word for a train, after the sound of a steam locomotive's whistle
• Flip-flops, a type of sandal
• Tuk-tuk, word for an auto rickshaw in parts of Asia and Africa
• Tweeter, a high frequency loudspeaker named after a bird's shrill tweet
• Woofer, a low frequency loudspeaker named after a dog's low bark

Animal and bird names[]

• Aye-aye
• Bobolink
• Bobwhite
• Chachalaca
• Chickadee
• Chiffchaff
• Chuck-will's-widow
• Cuckoo
• Curlew
• Dickcissel
• Dik-dik
• Hoopoe
• Kea
• Killdeer
• Mopoke, morepork or boobook owl
• Pobblebonk
• Poorwill
• Weero
• Eastern whip-poor-will
• Mexican whip-poor-will
• Willet

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 of a dog
• Bleat, sound of a sheep
• Buzz, sound of bees or insects flying
• Chirp, bird call
• Chirp, sound made by rubbing together feet or other body parts, e.g. by a cricket or a cicada
• Growling, low, guttural vocalization produced by predatory animals
• Hiss, sound made by a snake
• Hoot, call of an owl
• Howl, sound made by canines, especially wolves
• 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
• Tweet, sound of a bird
• Woof, sound of a dog

Music groups or terms[]

• Bebop, a style of jazz
• Djent, a style of progressive metal named after the sound of a palm-muted guitar
• Donk, a style of UK house music containing distinctive percussion sounds
• Doof doof, Australian slang term describes electronic music heard at raves
• Kecak, part of a musical drama, is named after monkey chatter, and "chak" is also the sound of a struck bar percussion instrument as in a gamelan
• Oom-pah, brass instruments
• Ratatat, a New York City experimental electronic rock duo
• Wah-wah, the sound of altering the resonance of musical notes to extend expressiveness

Works, groups and characters named after sounds[]

• "Boum !", a song
• Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, a car in film of the same name named for the unusual noise of its engine
• Clank, from the famous video game series "Ratchet & Clank"
• Cock a doodle doo, a nursery rhyme about a cockerel
• Kachi-kachi Yama, a Japanese folktale, named for the crackling of a fire
• Rattle and Hum, an album by the Irish band U2
• Snap, Crackle and Pop, advertising mascots for branded cereal
• Wham!, a 1980s English musical duo formed by members George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley

Sounds in fiction[]

• Bamf, the sound Nightcrawler makes when teleporting
• Pew-pew or pew-pew-pew, the sound of a laser gun in science fiction^[1]
• Snikt, the sound of Wolverine's claws being extended
• Thwip, the sound that Spider-Man's web shooters make
• Vworp, the sound the TARDIS makes when it materializes

See also[]

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

References[]