You have an amazing story. But then, when it gets to the point where you want to tell your reader about the distant barking of dogs in the neighborhood, the sound of the live engine of your truck in the garage, or the sound made by a heavy object that has fallen on the ground, things become a bit hard. There’s nothing as frustrating as not being able to describe and explain the sounds you hear daily through writing. The good thing is that this is not impossible. Have you heard of the word onomatopoeia? No? That explains why you are having trouble with describing sounds in your writing. Don’t worry because you are going to learn a lot about onomatopoeia.

The definition of Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia refers to a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, suggests, or evokes the sound they describe. You can still say onomatopoeia is a literary device - words whose pronunciations imitate the natural sounds made by things. Onomatopoeia is pronounced as “o-nuh-ma-tuh-pee-uh.”

There are some words that have been in use for ages, serving to describe the sounds of things that have existed since then. Such words have now been adopted as English words. An example of such a case is “bleat.” Even though the word describes the sound a sheep makes, it is more used as an English word than the sound of a sheep.

Examples of Onomatopoeia

The objects or things that produce (or make) sounds can be categorized into different groups depending on the type of object (that produces the sound). Examples of such groups include:

Animal sounds

The growl of a bear, badger, or dog

The roar of a lion or bear

The bray or hee-haw of a donkey

The bark, woof, ruff, arf, bow-bow, or howl of a dog

The screech of an eagle

The bugle of an elk

The cluck, crow, cha-caw, or bah-gawk of chicken (female)

The cock-a-doodle-doo of a cock

Mechanical sounds

Bang (for a gunshot or explosion)

Beep (for a car horn)

Creak (for a door that’s opening)

Crackle (for wood burning)

Ding dong (for a doorbell)

Vocal sounds/ human sounds

Hum

Burp

Groan

Giggle

Sniff

Whisper

Snore

Scream

Whistle

Sneeze (achoo or atishoo)

Cough

Impact sounds

Boom

Smack

Thump

Bang

Crash

Whack

Natural sounds

The pitter-patter of raindrops

The whoosh or howl of the wind

The gurgle of a river

The crunch of snow

The rustle of leaves

The uses of Onomatopoeia

To help the reader hear sounds

Onomatopoeia is used generally to enable the reader to hear sounds in writing. For example, consider the difference between the following sentences.

The night was quiet except for the occasional noise outside made by a dog.

The night was quiet except for the occasional woof of a dog.

The strong wind made a loud noise in the woods.

The whoosh of the wind in the woods was very loud.

In both cases, the second sentences enable the reader to hear the sounds made by the objects mentioned.

To arouse emotions in the reader

Onomatopoeia can be used to arouse emotions in a reader. Some of the sounds that can create an emotional effect on a reader include:

Screams (arouse tension, panic, or terror)

Ululations (arouse joy)

Sources

writingexplained.org/grammar-dictionary/onomatopoeia

https://www.litcharts.com/literary-devices-and-terms/onomatopoeia
https://literarydevices.net/onomatopoeia
https://www.supersummary.com/onomatopoeia