7 Words You Never Realized Were Examples of Onomatopoeia
Updated: Oct. 02, 2018You know the classic examples of onomatopoeias like “boom,” “splat,” and “pow,” but you probably never realized that these words you use every day are also onomatopeias.
Sneeze
The original onomatopoeias for the action of forcefully expelling air out of your mouth and nose were “fneosan” and “fnese.” Saying that out loud sounds a lot like a sneeze, right? The “f” was mistaken for an “s” on Old English manuscripts and the words were changed to “sneosan” and “snese.” Then, it was eventually modernized to sneeze. Once you learn about these examples of onomatopoeia make sure you also brush up on the homophones people confuse all the time.
Blimp
The technical term for blimp is actually dirigible. The name blimp came to be when a British Lieutenant was inspecting one of the aircrafts and snapped his thumb off of the gasbag. The snap on the taut fabric created a noise that he interpreted as “blimp” and since then, dirigibles have been known as blimps.
Check out these mind-blowing facts about the English language.
Cliché
A cliché is a phrase that is used over and over again—we’re all guilty of saying them. In the 1800s, a French printing press decided to make plates with common sayings on them that they could use repeatedly so they wouldn’t have to rewrite it every time. The noise the plate made when printing the words sounded like “cliché.”
These slang words from the 1920s are very, very weird.
Owl
Similar to the word sneeze, the word owl has gone through a few different spellings. Its original spelling is what makes it one of the examples of onomatopoeia. The noun given to this bird was “uwwa” because of the noise it makes. “Uwwa” was eventually changed to “uwwalon” and then to “owl.”
Can you guess the letter that starts the fewest words in the English language?
Buffoon
The word, meaning a stupid person, is meant to sound like a person puffing out their cheeks. It originally comes from the Italian word “buffare,” which actually translates to a person puffing out their cheeks. It all connects because in the 1500s, buffoon was a style of comedic dance where people would puff out their cheeks to look more foolish.
Check out the origin of these common idioms.
Laugh
Early Europeans used the word “hlaehhan” to indicate laughter (think “hahaha”). It doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but does sound a little bit like someone laughing. Hlaehhan was eventually modernized and after dropping letters and adding some new ones, the word “laugh” came to be.
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Bumblebee
Before settling on bumblebee, this little creature was referred to as humblebee, dumbledor, and bombyll. All of them were meant to represent the buzzing of a bee. Now, you’ll be able to impress people with these words you never realized were examples of onomatopoeia—just make sure you don’t say these words that make you sound stupid.
