Onomatopoeia
Pronunciation
- RP IPA: /ˌɒnəˌmætəˈpiə/
- US enPR: än'É™-măt'É™-pēʹə or än'É™-mät'É™-pēʹə, IPA: /ˌɑËnəˌmætəˈpiÉ™/, /ˌɑËnəˌmÉ‘ËtəˈpiÉ™/
- Rhymes: -iÉ™
Alternative forms
Origin
From Ancient Greek ὀνοματοποιία (onomatopoiia, "the coining of a word in imitation of a sound"), from ὀνοματοποιÎω (onomatopoieo, "to coin names"), from ὄνομα (onoma, "name") + ποιÎω (poieo, "to make, to do, to produce").
Full definition of onomatopoeia
Noun
onomatopoeia
(countable and uncountable; plural onomatopoeias)- (uncountable) The property of a word of sounding like what it represents.
- 1553, w, Arte of Rhetorique Chapter , A woorde making called of the Grecians Onomatapoia, is when wee make wordes of our owne minde, such as bee derived from the nature of things.
- (countable) A word that sounds like what it represents, such as "gurgle" or "hiss".
- (uncountable, rhetoric) The use of language whose sound imitates that which it names.