Examples of Onomatopoeia
While putting down these examples of onomatopoeia, the keyboard goes click click click and my fingers go tap tap tap! I guess, you have already got the idea…
Remember, “Jingle bells, jingle bells…”, ”Baa baa black sheep have you any wool?”, or “Twinkle twinkle little star…”? These are all examples of onomatopoeia. Here, as you can see that the things and actions are named or denoted by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with them. This is what forms the base of an onomatopoeia definition. In simple words, onomatopoeia is using words that imitate the sound they denote. Here is a list of some common examples of onomatopoeia you can refer to.
Good Onomatopoeia Words
Common Examples of Onomatopoeia In Animal Sounds
- Cat – meow, mew, purr
- Cow – moo, low
- Horse – whinny
- Dog – bark, bow wow, woof
- Pig – oink
- Lion – roar
- bird – chirrup, chirp, tweet
- Hen – cluck
- Chick – peep
- Dinosaur – grr, growl, screech
- Dolphin – click
- Cock – crow
- Bull – bellow
- Ass – bray
- Elephant – trumpet
- Bear – growl
- Calve – bleat
- Coyote – yelp, cry
- Cuckoo – cuckoo
- Eagles – scream, cry
- Falcon – chant
- Ferret – dook
- Flies – buzz
- Fox – yelp, bark
- Frog – croak
- Giraffe – bleat
- Goat – bleat
- Geese – cackle, hiss, honk, quack
- Grasshopper – chirp
- Hare – squeak
- Mice – squeak
- Hyena – laugh
- Jackal – howl
- Jay – chatter
- Magpie – chatter
- Monkey – gibber
- Moose – bellow
- Bee – buzz
- Donkey – eeh aah, heehaw
- Fish – glub, blub, glug
- Ostrich – bleep
- Owl – screech, hoot
- Parrot – talk
- Penguin – honk
- Raccoon – chitter
- Raven – croak
- Rook – caw
- Stag – bellow
- Swallow – twit and squeal
- Turkey – gobble
- Vulture – scream
- Walrus – oot
- Whale – sings
- Wolf – howl, cry
- Zebra – click
Miscellaneous Examples of Onomatopoeia
- Buzz
- Beep
- Whirr
- Click
- Clack
- Clunk
- Clatter
- Clink
- Achoo
- Ahem
- Fizz
- Bah
- Bump
- Bam
- Bang
- Bash
- Puff
- Bawl
- Boing
- Bong
- Bonk
- Boo
- Varoom, vroom
- Bubble
- Whoosh
- Slurp
- Wham
- Biff
- Pow
- Snore
- Swish
- Swoosh
- Beep
- Blare
- Blurt
- Boing
- Boink
- Boom
- Slurch
- Clank
- Clatter
- Click
- Ring
- Ting
- Honk
- Jingle
- Toot
- Hum
- Thud
- Clink
- Tick-tock
- Cluck
- Poof
- Clunk
- Crackle
- Ding
- Hiccup
- Crunch
- Eek
- Flick
- Ping
- Plop
- Zap
- Zing
- Zip
- Zoom
Now, coming to some examples of onomatopoeia words for kids, nothing would fit the bill better than some nursery rhymes and poems. So here they are. Read them and know the sounds better!
Crack An Egg Crack an egg.
Stir
the butter.
Break the yolk.
Make it flutter.
Stoke the heat.
Hear it sizzle.
Shake the salt, Just a drizzle
.
Flip it over,
Just like that.
Press it down.
Squeeze it flat.
Pop
the toast.
Spread jam thin.
Say the word.
Breakfast’s in. –
Denise Rodgers The Pit Bull The pit bull yelped, As the police took him away, Never to growl again, At us kids in play, The shriek, squeal, and scream of the English bulldog,
As he pinned him that day, Crunch,
His massive jaws, locked it’s teeth Around it’s now, Blood oozing down,
Throat and head, Grunting, wailing, plunk,
Kerplunk, Oh man,
Is he dead?
That was enough,
To make us stay away,
From all canine for awhile,
When we’re ready,
We’ll enjoy teasing the neighbors poodles instead. –
D. Alsup Honky Tonk in Cleveland, Ohio It’s a jazz affair, drum crashes and cornet razzes.
The trombone pony neighs and the tuba jackass snorts.
The banjo tickles and titters too awful.
The chippies talk about the funnies in the papers.
The cartoonists weep in their beer.
Ship riveters talk with their feet
To the feet of floozies under the tables.
A quartet of white hopes mourn with interspersed snickers:
“I got the blues.
I got the blues.
I got the blues.”
And . . . as we said earlier:
The cartoonists weep in their beer. –
Carl Sandburg
Cynthia in the Snow
It SUSHES.
It
hushes
The loudness in the road.
It
flitter-twitters,
And laughs away from me.
It laughs a lovely whiteness,
And whitely whirs away,
To be,
Some otherwhere,
Still white as milk or shirts.
So beautiful it hurts. – Gwendolyn Brooks The Rusty Spigot The rusty spigot sputters, utters a splutter, spatters a smattering of drops, gashes wider; slash splatters scatters spurts finally stops sputtering and plash! gushes rushes splashes clear water dashes. –
Eve Merriam
Read more on:
- List of Interesting Words in English
- The Very Funny English Language
So these examples of onomatopoeia must be enough for now. By now, you must have gotten hold of the idea about the use of onomatopoeia and you can come up with your own poems and lyrics where you can incorporate its usage. So keep ‘onomatopoesing’ and have fun with sounds!
