onomatopoeia

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ Proto-Hellenic *ónomə Ancient Greek ὄνομᾰ (ónomă) Proto-Indo-European *kʷey-der. Proto-Hellenic *kʷoiwéyō Ancient Greek ποιέω (poiéō) Ancient Greek ὀνομᾰτοποιός (onomătopoiós) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂ Proto-Hellenic *-íā Ancient Greek -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā) Ancient Greek ὀνομᾰτοποιῐ́ᾱ (onomătopoiĭ́ā)der. Latin onomatopoeïabor. English onomatopoeia Borrowed from Latin onomatopoeïa, from Ancient Greek ὀνοματοποιία (onomatopoiía, “the coining of a word in imitation of a sound”), from ὀνοματοποιέω (onomatopoiéō, “to coin names”), from ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”) + ποιέω (poiéō, “to make, to do, to produce”). By surface analysis, onomato- + -poeia.

1. The property of a word that sounds like what it represents.

   “A woorde making called of the Grecians Onomatapoia, is when wee make wordes of our owne minde, such as bee derived from the nature of things.”

2. A word that sounds like what it represents, such as "gurgle", "stutter", or "hiss".
3. A word that sounds like what it represents, such as "gurgle", "stutter", or "hiss".
4. The use of language whose sound imitates that which it names.