Written Sound
Onomatopoeia Dictionary
Words that sound like the thing they mean: Imitative words. From the Greek "onoma" (name) and "poiein" (to make)
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aaht aahht bloooot

sounds of busy city horns (cars) MAD magazine

automotive tone

beep

bird , automobile horn, or computer generated tone. "Beep beep!" is also the signature call of the Road Runner character (a bird) in the Looney Tunes cartoons. Find more tones

animal bird automotive tone

beep beep beep beep screeeech ruuurrrump pa-lump

Sounds made by a dump truck (Diggers go by Steve Light, all caps in the book BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP SCREEEECH RUUURRRUMP PA-LUMP

truck dump rubble dirt stone sand engine

blare

loud sound

music misc tone engine

bleat

1. to utter or play loudly or harshly, 2. the natural cry of a sheep, goat or calf 3. to talk complainingly or in a whining tone of voice

animal

bleep

electronically generated tone. "to bleep" often means "to mask inappropriate language on television or radio"

tone

blip

a short, crisp sound

tone

bringg

sound of ringing telephone. More telephone sounds

tone

brinng

sound of ringing telephone. More telephone sounds

buzz

1. a sibilant humming sound, like a bee (also: bzzz, hum) 2. the sound of a buzzer 3. a confusion of activity and gossip, chatter, talk. Also used as a verb "the bees were buzzing", "he buzzed a servant"

human animal tone

bweee

electric power tone

tone

BWEEP bip bip BWEEP

U.S. city police siren in traffic (ref)

police tone alarm siren city car automotive

crunch, crunch, crunch

sound of footsteps on gravel, stones

human stones

eeeeeee

siren

tone

eeeoooeeeooo

siren

tone

gr gr k k grk

Sound of scraping and hammering in rocky material at an archeological / paleontological excavation. from:
Dinosaur King Vol 1, by Yohei Sakai. All caps in the book: GR GR K K GRK

stone carving metal digging

ha ha

laughter. most common form. intensity grows by adding ha's. absence of an exclamation mark can be a hint of sarcasm, or indicate a polite, but unenthusiastic laugh. dependent on context, tone, facial expression, etc. Also: haha

laughter

hhhhrrrrrrnnnnngggg

sound of the goal light and siren in a hockey game (ref)

sports hockey goal alarm siren tone

moan

1. long low inarticulate murmur, 2. (less common) word describing the sound of doves (as in "The moan of doves in immemorial elms" in the poem "Come Down, O Maid" by Alfred Lord Tennyson), 3. (less common) the sound of wind (in the poem "the night wind", by Eugene Field: "... For the wind will moan in its ruefullest tone:

human human pain disease weather

NEE-eu NEE-eu

French police siren (ref)

police traffic siren tone alarm car automotive

ping

an abrupt, ringing sound, a bullet striking something, or a computer tone

weapon metal

skwee brrumm brrumm skoooooo skooooo

Sounds made by a front loader (Diggers go by Steve Light, all caps in the book SKWEE BRRUMM BRRUMM SKOOOOOO SKOOOOO)

engine rubble sand stone dirt metal

waaank

sound of a train horn (ref)

horn tone alarm train

weeeoooeee

siren

tone

whoop

1. to cry out or creating a disturbance. Also: whoopee, whoop it up, whoop-de-doo. 2. Sound of a siren (whoop, whoop, whoop)

tone

woo-woo-woo

siren

tone

woop woop

Sound of a police car in the United States. Police often use the siren intermittently. Also spelled whoop whoop. This onomatopoeia is used in the chorus of the 1993 hip hop track Sound of da Police by KRS-One. Hear a police car

alarm tone music

yoooo

the sound of wind (in the poem "the night wind", by Eugene Field: "... For the wind will moan in its ruefullest tone: 'Yoooooooo!', 'Yoooooooo!', 'Yoooooooo!' ...")

weather gas


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