Onomatopoeia

What is Onomatopoeia?

Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates a sound or suggests the source of the sound that it describes. It is commonly used in comic strips as action sounds and in nursery rhymes.

Examples of using Onomatopoeia:

Buzz - for a bee

Hiss - for a snake

Moo - for a cow

Woof - for a dog

Pow - for a punch

Whoosh - for a rocket taking off

Tick-tock - for a clock

Onomatopoeia is used in a poem or nursery rhyme to entertain:

Old MacDonald had a farm,
Ee i ee i oh!
And on that farm he had some chickens,
Ee i ee i oh!
With a cluck-cluck here,
And a cluck-cluck there
Here a cluck, there a cluck,
Everywhere a cluck-cluck
Old MacDonald had a farm
Ee i ee i oh!

Onomatopoeia is used to help the reader hear and be involved in the writer's written word, by describing the action with a sound.

Try writing using Onomatopoeia, it's fun and you can enter your writing into one of our competitions.