Topics: Linguistics - Word - Iconic Sign
Onomatopoeia is the use of words that phonetically imitate the sound that it describes.
For example, the sound roosters make is:
- Cock-a-doodle-doo in English
- コケコッコー (kokekokkō) in Japanese
- Quiquiriquí in Spanish
- кукареку́ (kukarekú) in Russian
Instances of onomatopoeia are examples of iconic signs.
Etymology
“Onomatopoeia” is a word borrowed from Ancient Greek ὀνοματοποιία (onomatopoiía, ‘the coining of a word in imitation fo a sound’), which comes from ὄνομα (ónoma, ‘name’) + ποιέω (poiéō, ‘to make, to produce’).