December 4, 2008
Bam, wham, kapow!
Onomatopoeia. Such a fun word to say! And its usage is just as enjoyable as its pronunciation.
Onomatopoeia is the formation of a word by imitating the natural sound associated with the object or action involved.
We’re all very familiar with onomatopoeia in everyday language. Young children can easily tell us what a duck says (“quack, quack”), and most all comic book readers know the sound of Spider-Man’s web shooter (“thwip!”).
Here are some additional examples:
- animal noises: hiss, moo, oink, woof
- beep
- click
- drip
- hiccup
- kerplunk
- pop
- pow
- sizzle
- slurp
- splat
- swish
- whoosh
- vroom
This is just a small sample. Feel free to share your own!
Filed by rebecca at 10:12 am under For the love of words
Squelch
The mud squelched between her toes.
Isn’t squelch a lovely word?
Oh wait, let me put all the lessons together:
“The mud squelched between my toes,” squealed the Urban Panther in delight. “It’s such a lovely feeling.”
Onomatopoeia, a colon, “it’s,” and quotation marks: Well done, Panther!
And “squelch” is a fabulous word. Reminds me of “squeegee.”