名人教你讲英文：Onomatopoeia 拟声词

名人教英文：onomatopoeia 拟声词

onomatopoeia is the definition for a word that suggests the sound it describes. to put it simply, onomatopoeia just means a "sound-word" often used for rhetorical effect. the word imitates the sound made by an animal or an inanimate object.

like many english words, the term onomatopoeia is a noun which has its origin in greek. the adjective for the noun is "onomatopoeic". the adverb is "onomatopoeically".

each onomatopoeia in the example given below is underlined.
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many names themselves are onomatopoeic. the word "cuckoo" itself suggests the sound made by the cooing cuckoo bird. other expressions like "the ticking clock that tick-tocks" convey the sounds that the words seek to echo.

an onomatopoeia has many uses.

it is known for its "mnemonic function". this function, by its association with sounds, could help people remember things better. (1)

many advertisers use onomatopoeia as a mnemonic device to convey the image of the product it sells and to help the customer remember the product through the sound of the word used. words such as bang!!! whaam!!! wow!!! zap!!! are examples.

the chinese language itself uses many words onomatopoeically. as a matter of fact, the chinese language often uses pictograph and ideogram to combine with onomatopoeia in word construction. (2)

that is to say, chinese characters themselves are often derived from images of the objects the words seek to represent: e.g. the chinese word for horse 马 takes on the image of the horse itself. then there is a combination of sounds and images in phrases to make the expression doubly impressive. consider the phrase 叮当马头 : through the words 叮当 (pronounced ding dong), the reader not only can hear the sound of the bells ringing but also can visualise the horses running neck and neck.