Words that imitate a sound can vary depending on regions, countries, and language.

By definition, onomatopoeia is a word the imitates its sound. You’ve probably heard of words like “buzz” or “ring” or “bark”. But don’t let that hold you back from using this literary device in your writing – it’s actually a quite basic concept and easy to understand. RI Form: にこり (nikori) or にっこり -> Nikori can also be used as an adverb just like nikotto.Onomatopoeia at first glance looks like a long word and it may seem to be hard to pronounce and spell. For example, “彼はにこっと笑った” (For this one there isn’t a literal translation because にこにこ is a representation of sounds/state of being) but this can be translated as “He pleasantly smiled” as “にこにこ” always has positive meanings. TO Form: にこっと (nikotto) -> For TO form, it is mostly used an an adverb to verbs that come after. For instance, “彼はいつもにこにこしている” meaning “He is always smiling” BUT it can also be used as an adverb to verbs that follow them. Of course this isn’t a real rule, and you can see any of these sounds written either way depending on the context! Japanese Onomatopoeia Forms:ĭouble Form: にこにこ (niko niko)　-> For the double form, it is usually used as an adjective. While there isn’t a hard and fast rule, usually actual sounds (like animal noises or doors slamming) are written in katakana and soft sounds (like ones that describe emotional states) are written in hiragana. You will see all the onomatopoeia written below in both hiragana and katakana. To break down the names of the various onomatopoeia we can see the kanji 擬 means mimic + (insert type of sound) + 語 (kanji for word or speech). They describe feelings or states of being that make no sound at all! Gitaigo are onomatopoeia that we do not have in English. 擬態語 ( gitaigo) Describe conditions and states (things that do not make sounds) What sound does the wind make? WOOOOSH! A beating heart? Thump, thump, thump. 擬音語 ( giongo) Sounds made by inanimate objects and nature These are mostly what you will think of in English like MOOO! or ACHOO! or Sluurrrrrp. ( giseigo, animal and human sounds) like MOO! or YAAASince we don’t have words for these in English they can be a bit harder to learn. There are 3 types of onomatopoeia you will learn in Japanese. Japanese onomatopoeia aren’t just written, but they are also crucial to speaking and sounding fluent. The Japanese seem to like onomatopoeia even more than other languages (they have over 1,000!) so we are devoting a whole post to teaching you the most common Japanese onomatopoeia you might find.

For instance, in many languages, the onomatopoeia for laughing isn’t “hahaha” but is often “kkkk” in Asian languages or in Spanish, “jjjj.” This may seem strange to English speakers, but of course it makes perfect sense to the native speaker! Every language has onomatopoeia, but in every language they are slightly different. In English, this is words like BOOM! SLAP! or HAHAHA! The spelling of these words is based on the sound that the action makes. Onomatopoeia is the word for when we take a sound and make a word out of it. If you aren’t familiar with Japanese onomatopoeia (or any onomatopoeia for that matter) here is a quick introduction.

Quick word otamotapea