Do you know what an Onomatopoeia is? (French)
Aug 21st, 2007 by Julia
Onomatopoeia is a word(s) that imitate the sound of an item it is describing. This word is of the Greek origin ”onoma” (name) and “poio” (to create) which means “name creation”.
Onomatopoeia covers a wide range of sounds, the sounds made by animals, devices, musical instruments and so on. It’s important to be aware that in different parts of the world, the words used for the sounds are quite different
Animal Onomatopoeia - the sounds that animals make.
Here are some common French renderings:
cat - miaou
cow - meuh
horse - wihiie / hiiiii
dog - wau wau
pig - quiek
lion - grr
bird - piip
hen - kot-kot
chick - piou piou
rooster - cocorico
crow - croa croa
duck - coin coin
bee - bzzz
Mechanical Onomatopoeia - machine noises. Examples include: Boum (explosion), Badaboum (chute), doug (motor); Ron , Raaah - Roaaar, Vroum (motor), Plif - Plaf - Plouf .
Musical Onomatopoeia - some musical onomatopoeia is associated with specific music instruments — Bam - Bim - Bom - Bang ; Ding Dong - Dong; Drelin .