Cross-linguistic onomatopoeias

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Template:IndicText Template:Sinhala transliteration Because of the nature of onomatopoeia, there are many cross-linguistic cognates of onomatopoetic sounds. The following is a list of some conventional examples:

Balloon bursting

Bird singing

  • In Arabic zeew zeew zeew
  • In Basque (Euskara), txio txio
  • In Bosnian, čip čip
  • In Bulgarian, chik-chirik (чик-чирик)
  • In Catalan, piu piu
  • In Chinese, Mandarin jī jī zhā zhā (叽叽喳喳)
  • In Czech, Slovak, píp píp /peep, peep/, čvirik, čvirik
  • In Danish, pip pip, kuk kuk, gok gok (hen)
  • In Dutch, twiet twiet, tok tok tok (hen (chicken)), tjierp, tjielp (singing bird)
  • In English, chirp chirp, tweet tweet
  • In Estonian, siuts siuts, siit siit, tsirr tsirr, sirts sirts, siu siu
  • In Filipino, twitwittwit
  • In Finnish, tviit, piip piip, ti-pi-tii, ti-ti-tyy (Great Tit)
  • In French, cui, cui
  • In German, piep piep /peep, peep/, tschiep
  • In Greek, tsiou tsiou, τσίου τσίου, (chicken: koko ko, sitting hen: klo klo)
  • In Hungarian, csip csip
  • In Hindi, cheh cheh
  • In Italian, cip cip, pio pio (for chicks)
  • In Japanese, it varies: piyo piyo (ピヨ ピヨ) for chicks
  • In Korean, jjek jjek (짹짹)
  • In Lithuanian, čik čirik, čyru vyru
  • In Macedonian, churulik churulik (чурулик чурулик)
  • In Malayalam, "coo coo"
  • In Polish, ćwir ćwir (and others)
  • In Portuguese, piu piu
  • In Romanian, cip cirip, piu piu
  • In Russian, chirik-chirik (чирик-чирик), chik-chirik (чик-чирик)
  • In Sinhalese, kumu kumu (කුමු-කුමු)
  • In Slovene, čiv čiv
  • In Spanish, pío, pío
  • In Swedish, kvitt, kvitt
  • In Tamil, koo, koo
  • In Thai, "jib jib" (จิ๊บ จิ๊บ)
  • In Turkish, cik cik /dʒik dʒik/

Camera Shutter

Car Horn

Clock

A sign in a shop window in Italy proclaims "No Tic Tac".

Cannon firing or gun shot

  • In Tagalog boogsh, boom
  • In Arabic, bom, bov
  • In Catalan, pam
  • In Chinese, Mandarin, cannon firing - pēng (嘭 or 砰); gun firing - ping, pang or Pa (乒 or 啪) (乒 also means "table tennis"); machine gun - da da da... (嗒嗒嗒) (嗒 singly means "clatter")
  • In Danish, bang, bum
  • In Dutch, cannon firing - boem, gun firing - pang or pauw, machine gun - ratatata
  • In English, bang, blam, boom, kaboom, or pow
  • In Estonian, põmm, kõmm, pauh, karpauh
  • In Finnish, pum, pam: generally for all gunfire and explosions; ra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta, rä-tä-tä-tä-tä-tä: an example of fully automatic gunfire.
  • In French, pan: a gun or cannon firing
  • In German, peng, puff, päng (pistol); rat-tat-tat-tat (machine gun); Bumm, Rumms, Kawumm (cannon)
  • In Greek, cannon: kaboom or bam, (μπαμ) , gun: bam, pan, piou-piou (mainly children), automatic gunfire: trrrrrr
  • In Hindi, thaa
  • In Indonesian, dor,
  • In Hungarian bumm
  • In Italian, bum, bang
  • In Icelandic, búmm or bamm
  • In Korean, bbang (빵)
  • In Lithuanian, bumpt, bum
  • In Macedonian, bum, pau, ra ta ta ta (бум, пау, ра та та та)
  • In Polish, bum, ta ta ta ta t (and others)
  • In Portuguese, bam, boom, cabum,
  • In Romanian, bum
  • In Russian, pif-paf
  • In Sinhalese, ḍisum (ඩිසු‍‍ම්); ḍaka-ḍaka-ḍaka (ඩක-ඩක-ඩක) - automatic weapon; ḍung (ඩුං) - single shot
  • In Spanish, pum or bang
  • In Swedish, pang or bang: a gun shot
  • In Thai, pung (ปัง)
  • In Turkish, bam: a gun shot or bom: a cannon firing : also dıkşınyaa for gun firing among children
  • In Hebrew, bum (בום)
  • In Kannada, dum or dhaam
  • In Tamil, dishum
  • In Thai pang (ปัง)
  • In Telugu, dhaam

Car Engine revving

  • In Danish, vrum vrum, brum brum, nøn nøn
  • In English, vroom vroom
  • In Finnish, vruum vruum, bruum bruum, prööm prööm (in spoken language)
  • In Italian, brum brum
  • In Hungarian, brum brumm
  • In Korean, bureung bureung (부릉부릉)
  • In Spanish, run run
  • In Thai bruen bruen (บรึ๊น บรึ๊น)
  • In Turkish, vrum vrum

Cat meowing

Collision sounds

  • In Arabic, bom, takh, trakh
  • In Bengali: ঠাস ṭhash ঠুস ṭhush ধুম dhum ধাম dham
  • In Bulgarian, bum, dum tryas (бум, дум, тряс)
  • In Chinese, Cantonese, bìhng-līng baang-làahng (乒鈴嘭唥)
  • In Chinese, Mandarin, larger objects crashing, buildings falling down or bigger bombs detonating - hong (轰); describing glass shattering or metal objects falling to ground - guang-dang (哐当) or guang-lang (哐啷)
  • In Danish, bum, bump, bang, krasj
  • In Dutch, boem, knal
  • In English, boom, crunch, wham, bang
  • In Estonian, prõmm, , pauh, piraki, karpauh
  • In Finnish, pam, pum, ryskis, kolin, räiskis
  • In French, bing or bang or boum
  • In German, rumms or bumms
  • In Greek, bam, (μπαμ) or smaller collisions: "gkoup"
  • In Gilbertese. beeku: a collision.
  • In Haitian Creole, bip: the sound of a collision (eg. a car crash).
  • In Hebrew, bum, trakh (בום, טראח)
  • In Hindi, dhishumm, dhishum (धिशुम्म, धिशुम)
  • In Hungarian, dzzs, bumm, bamm, puff, paff, csatt, nyekk
  • In Indonesian, buk or brekk or j'derr
  • In Italian, sbam
  • In Japanese, gaan (ガーン) or with a metallic sound "kaan" (カーン)
  • In Korean: Koong: the equivalent of bang bang in English.
  • In Latin, tuxtax was the equivalent of bam or whack and was meant to imitate the sound of blows landing.
  • In Lithuanian, bumpt, bum
  • In Macedonian, bum, pam, pum, dum, tres (бум, пам, пум, дум, трес)
  • In Malay, gedebak-gedebuk
  • In Portuguese, crash, boom
  • In Romanian, bum, buf, pac, poc, trosc
  • In Russian, bum (бум)
  • In Sinhalese, daḍas (දඩස්)
  • In Spanish, pácatelas crash, or pungun
  • In Swedish, krash
  • In Tagalog, ka-boom
  • In Tamil, dhishumm, dhishum
  • In Turkish, güm, bam, dıkş, çat, pat, zbam

Crow calling

Cry of Pain

Cow mooing

Dangling

  • In Chinese, Cantonese, dìuh-díu fihng (吊吊捹) (吊 singly means "to hang"")
  • In Chinese, Mandarin, objects creaking when swaying - yiya yiya (咿呀 咿呀)
  • In Czech, houpy-houp referring to motion similar to clock pendulum or baby swing chair.
  • In Dutch, doing-doing-doing referring to something dangling in a vertical motion.
  • In English, clink, clang
  • In Estonian kilks, kõlks
  • In Finnish, kilin, helin
  • In German, klingeling "dingeling"
  • In Japanese, chirin chirin (チリンチリン) or "chiin" (チーン)
  • In Korean, dal-lang dal-lang evoking the feeling of something dangling, slightly swaying.
  • In Macedonian, dang, ding, dong (данг, динг, донг)
  • In Tamil, sil-sila silu-sila
  • In Tagalog, clang clang
  • In Turkish, çangır çungur or şangır şungur

Dog barking

Donkey

Door or Floor creaking

Duck calling

Food being eaten

Frog croaking

This may differ according to the species of frog common in each language's speech area

Geese calling

Heart beating

Horse whinnying

Typing on a Keyboard

  • In English: click click, click clack
  • In Finnish: klik klik, klik klak
  • In Tagalog, chu ku chu ku chuk
  • In Turkish, tıkı tıkı tıkı, tıkır tıkır

Kissing

Knocking (on a door)

Laughter

Lion

Pig

Rooster crowing

Sheep

Sneezing

Stuttering

  • In Bengali: থৎমৎ thôtmôt, তৎলানো tôtlano (verb)
  • In Hebrew, gimgum (גמגום).
  • In Sinhalese, bäk bäk (බැක් බැක්)
  • In Turkish, kekelemek
  • In Tagalog, sasasasa

Tooth brushing

Telephone

Train Whistle

Wailing siren of a police car or ambulance

Water dripping

Wind blowing

  • In Bengali: ভোঁ bhõ, শন শন shôn shôn, ঝির ঝির jhir jhir
  • In Chinese, Mandarin: Slightly strong wind - hu-hu (呼呼), Rapid/chilly wind - sou-sou (嗖嗖) (呼 means "shout (verb)")
  • In Czech: fíííí /fee/
  • In Dutch: Woesh, Woesj
  • In English: Swish: The sound of a gentle breeze and Whoosh: the sound of a strong wind
  • In Finnish, Viuuh
  • In German: Huiiih
  • In Hindi: Sarr sarr, Saayein saayein
  • In Italian, fiuu
  • In Japanese: byuu byuu, pyuu pyuu, zawa zawa, soyo soyo
  • In Korean: whuing-whuing" (윙윙)
  • In Lithuanian, ššš
  • In Macedonian, fuuuu fuuuu (фуууу фуууу )
  • In Portuguese: Vuuuush
  • In Romanian: vâj
  • In Russian: uu-u (уу-у)
  • In Spanish, fuuuu fuuuu; fgrrrr frgrrrr
  • In Swedish: Svish
  • In Tamil, Shhhhhhhhhh
  • In Thai view view (หวิว หวิว)
  • In Turkish: vuuuu vuuuu
  • In Vietnamese: vi vu: the sound of a gentle breeze and vù vù: the sound of a strong wind.
  • In Tagalog, heee heee