Japanese/Vocabulary/Onomatopoeia

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An onomatopoeia (オノマトペ) is a word or group of words in a language which have their meaning indicated by the sounds they mimic. Examples of English onomatopoeia include "meow", "roar", "buzz", "boom", "snap", "bang", and so on.

Japanese onomatopoeia are divided into two main groups, gisei-go (擬声語) and gitai-go (擬態語).

[edit] Giseigo

擬声語 gisei-go are words which describe a sound. Many gisei-go are written in katakana. Some examples are:

English	Japanese	Reading	Notes
the sound of a dog barking	ワンワン		wan-wan
the sound of a cat meowing	ニャニャ, ニャンニャン		nya-nya, nyan-nyan
the sound of a chicken or rooster clucking	コケコッコ		koke-kokko
the sound of hands clapping, bonfire	パチパチ		pachi-pachi
sound of rain falling (heavy rain)	ザーザー		zaa-zaa
sound of water dripping or rain drops	ポツポツ		potsu-potsu
sound of gunshooting (bang-bang)	バンバン		ban-ban
the sound of a yawn	フワア		fuwaa
the sound of frog ribbit	ケロケロ		kero-kero
the sound of laughter	へへへ or ハハハ		hehehe or hahaha
the sound of an explosion	ドカン		dokan
sound of a hard blow	ズガ		zuga
to throb with a fast heart-beat	どきどき		doki-doki

[edit] Gitaigo

擬態語 gitai-go are words that describe an action, state, or emotion by an associated sound. Some examples are:

English	Japanese	Reading	Notes
to move around with liveliness	いそいそ		iso-iso
the sound of two people making out	いちゃいちゃ		icha-icha
to be careless or absentminded	うかうか		uka-uka
to drift between sleep and wakefulness	うつらうつら		utsura-utsura
to doze off	うとうと		uto-uto
to feel uneasy	おどおど		odo-odo
the sound of someone eating or munching on something	ムシャムシャ		musha-musha
jumping	ウハウハ		uha-uha
jumping	ぴょんぴょん		pyon-pyon
the sound of children playing	ワイワイ		wai-wai
the sound of crowd, mob	ガヤガヤ		gaya-gaya
to shine, sparkle, glitter	ぴかぴか		pika-pika
to be fretful, irritated	いらいら		ira-ira
to be soaked	びっしょり		bisshori