How many Japanese onomatopoeia words do you know? According to the dictionary, “onomatopoeia” is the formation of word from a sound associated with its name. For example, in English, words like “boom” and “beep” are onomatopoeia. You can almost hear the sound of waves splashing just from reading the word.
There are more onomatopoeia words in Japanese than in any other language. Japanese people use onomatopoeia at least once a day. They use it to express even the most minute nuances. Therefore, if you want to have deeper conversations in Japanese, it’s necessary to learn onomatopoeia words.
Also, if you’re a fan of manga and anime, you’ve undoubtedly seen sound effects on the page. Those sound effects are onomatopoeia, too. Since Japanese manga and anime use many sound effects, you must learn onomatopoeia to understand what authors really want to say.
In this article, I’ll list Japanese onomatopoeic expressions. The list includes words such as “crying,” “laughing,” and “snoozing,” which you can use in everyday life. Don’t forget to bookmark this article, so that you can search Japanese onomatopoeia and use it as a dictionary anytime you need.
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Before we look at the list, let me explain some more about what onomatopoeia means in the Japanese language. Onomatopoeia is オノマトペ (onomatope) in Japanese, and is from the French. It means basically the same thing as the English word “onomatopoeia.”
Many Japanese onomatopoeia words are repetitive. That is, the syllable, or pair of syllables, is repeated. Take for example the word キラキラ (kirakira). This word, meaning “glitter” or “twinkle,” repeats the syllables キラ (kira). Since most onomatopoeia words are Japanese in origin, most of them are not written in 漢字 (kanji). However, they’re often written in カタカナ (katakana), but occasionally written in ひらがな (hiragana).
Many words are used as adverbs, adjective-like words, or adjectival phrases. There are also some words which can be used as verbs when combined with する (suru) or やる (yaru). For example, ウキウキ (ukiuki), which means “be excited,” can be used as a verb with suru. Suru and yaru means “to do.”
Many words are used as adverbs, adjective-like words, or adjectival phrases. There are also some words which can be used as verbs when combined with する (suru) or やる (yaru). For example, ウキウキ (ukiuki), which means “be excited,” can be used as a verb with suru. Suru and yaru means “to do.”
There are several kinds of Japanese onomatopoeia. Some Japanese onomatopoeia words don’t actually mimic sounds, but they describe feelings or actions. However, those words also follow the same form and are similar to those which do mimic sounds. Therefore, we call them “onomatopoeia” all together.
In this article, we introduce two useful kinds of onomatopoeia. Those are 擬音語 (ぎおんご・giongo) and 擬態語 (擬態語・gitaigo). The kanji character 擬 (gi), at the beginning of each word, means “mimic.”
擬音語 (Giongo)
Giongo is the umbrella term for true onomatopoeia words, just like English onomatopoeia. The kanji character 音 means “sound” and “noise.” When you express sound effects in words, you use giongo.
擬態語 (Gitaigo)
Gitaigo words are also mimetic, but don’t mimic actual sounds. These words attempt to use similar sound patterns as giongo. The kanji character 態 (tai) means “condition,” “appearance,” and “action.”
To confuse the matter even more, there are some words that have both giongo and gitaigo elements. For example, there is ぐうぐう (gūgū). When you use gūgū as giongo, it mimics the sound of snoring. On the other hand, as gitaigo, it means “to sleep well.” It expresses the concept of sound sleep and doesn’t have to actually imitate the snoring sound.
In this section, we are going to look at a list of onomatopoeia which expresses actions such as sleeping and laughing. By using these onomatopoeia words, you’ll be able to express more precisely how you sleep and laugh, among other things.
As noted above, ぐうぐう (gūgū) is an onomatopoeia word which expresses the action of sleeping. There are also more onomatopoeia words to describe the action of sleeping, such as ぐっすり(gussuri), すやすや (suyasuya), and うとうと (utouto).
Meaning
Usage
You use the words gūgū, gussuri, and suyasuya with 寝る (ねる・neru) or 眠る (ねする・nemuru). Neru and nemuru are adjectives which essentially mean “to sleep.” On the other hand, utouto is a verb. So you use with する (suru) with it, which means “to do.”
You can use onomatopoeia words to express how you laugh. There are many onomatopoeia for laughing, but we picked three of the most useful onomatopoeia words to show you:くすくす (kusukusu), ゲラゲラ (geragera), and ケラケラ (kerakera).
Meaning
Usage
You use the words kusukusu, geragera, and kerakera with 笑う (わらう・warau) which means “to laugh.”
There are many onomatopoeia words which describe the action of eating, too. Here, we introduce four of them which are used very often: んどん (dondon), がつがつ (gatsugatsu), ぱくぱく (pakupaku), and ぺろぺろ (peropero).
Meaning
Usage
You use dondon and gatsugatsu with 食べる (たべる・taberu) which means “to eat.” Peropero is used with 舐める (なめる・nameru) and it means “to lick.”
In English, there are many words which express the action of looking. In Japanese, people typically use 見る (みる・miru). However, to explain how you look, you can use onomatopoeia. There are many onomatopoeia words to describe the action of looking: じろっと (jirotto), じろじろ (jirojiro), ちらちら (chirahira), and きょろきょろ (kyorokyoro).
Meaning
Usage
Jirotto, chirachira, and kyorokyoro are often used with 見る (みる・miru) which means simply “to look.” You can also use jirotto with にらむ (niramu) which means “to glare.” Further, kyorokyoro can be used as a verb when used with する (suru).
Onomatopoeias are very helpful when you want to express crying in Japanese. Here are three very useful crying onomatopoeia words: ぎゃあぎゃあ (gyāgyā), めそめそ (mesomeso), and しくしく (shikushiku).
Meaning
Usage
Gyāgyā, mesomeso, and shikusiku usually use the verb 泣く (なく・naku) which means “to cry.” Gyāgyā also can be used with 言う (いう・iu) “to say,” and わめく (wameku) “scream loudly.” Further, you can use mesomeso as a verb with する (suru).
You can also express your feelings by using Japanese onomatopoeia. You might find these onomatopoeia words used in manga as sound effects to express how the characters are feeling. So you will definitely enjoy reading manga more if you understand the onomatopoeia used for feelings.
Three Japanese onomatopaeia words used to express excitement are: ドキドキ (dokidoki), わくわく (wakuwaku), and はらはら (harahara).
Meaning
Usage
Dokidoki, wakuwaku, and harahara are usually used as verbs with する (suru).
Japanese people often use onomatopoeia words to express themselves when angry. We introduce three useful onomatopoeia words to express anger: かんかん (kankan), イライラ (iraira), and ムカムカ (mukamuka).
Meaning
Usage
You can use iraira and mukamuka as verbs with する (suru). When you use kankan as an onomatopoeia of anger, it precedes the particle に (ni) plus the verb 怒る (おこる・okoru) “to get angry.”
When you want to express fear, the onomatopoeia words はっと (hatto), ぎょっと (gyotto), and ぞっと (zotto) are likely to come in handy.
Meaning
Usage
Hatto, gyotto, and zotto can be used as verbs with する (suru). You can also use hatto with 目を覚ます (めをさます・me o samasu) meaning “to wake up,” or 気づく (きづく・kizuku), “to realize.” Gytto can be used with 驚く (おどろく・odoroku), too.
Japanese people often use onomatopoeia to describe weather. Since weather is a popular small talk topic with friends and neighbors, you can easily use these weather onomatopoeia words in everyday life.
Japanese people are very sensitive when it comes to the flavor and texture of food. So they often use onomatopoeia words for food, too. Here, we provide you the lists of important onomatopoeia words that are used to express things about food.
You can also use onomatopoeia to explain someone’s physical qualities such as body type and hair style. Is he/she slim or chubby? Use onomatopoeia to describe them exactly, just how you want.
A person’s personality and attitude are very abstract. Therefore, Japanese people also use onomatopoeias when they talk about those topics, as it aids them in describing exactly what they mean to.
When you sneeze, you use “achoo” in English as a sneezing sound. In Japanese, there are several other onomatopoeia words that you can use to describe health conditions.
As we’ve explained, Japanese onomatopoeia words are not just “sound” words; there are many other types of onomatopoeia words in Japanese. You can describe many things, such as actions, feelings, and even things about the body such as appearance or health.
Some of you might think that there are too many words to memorize. Don’t worry! You don’t have to memorize everything. When you hear some onomatopoeia in a conversation, or find some while reading manga, look back at the lists in this article to find the meaning.
Or check out our Ultimate Japanese Onomatopoeia Guide series on JapanesePod101! It provides an in-depth introduction to the world of Japanese onomatopoeia words that represent sounds and feelings. Japanese is filled with these types of words—master these and you will start sounding like a native. You’ll learn about different types of Japanese onomatopoeia and how they are used. Better yet, you’ll find plenty of examples and information about working onomatopoeia into your Japanese vocabulary.
Since Japanese people use some onomatopoeia words very often, you will easily memorize those words. Now, go have fun communicating with your friends by using some Japanese onomatopoeia!
Hi Geiri,
Thank you for studying with us.
Both 細（ほそ）い and ほっそり can mean the same but ほっそり sounds slighly more casual than 細い. 細い can also use as, thin or narrow besides slim/slender, so you can use it like 細い道（みち） (meaning narrow street), but ほっそり is normally used to discribe a person and an animal, not other thing such as street, so we do not say ほっそりした道（みち）.
And you need to use ほっそり with した(being). So the example that you gave, it would be ほっそりした少女はリサさんです。
If you want to learn more, please check this lesson
https://www.japanesepod101.com/lesson/beginner-lesson-s2-34-whats-your-type/
Feel free to let us know if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Yoshimi
Team JapanesePod101.com
Hi. Nice lesson.
My college vocab for slim/slender was ほそい (細い). This article says it is ほっそり, which isn't in JEDict or my old paperback dictionaries. Is ほっそり slang, a newer word or a typo (😳)?
None of these onomatopoetic words ends in い、so they are generally used as な-adjectives? Your examples tend to be like リサさんはほっそりです, but what about あのほっそりな少女はリサさんです。
Thank you.
Kenさん
Thank you for your comment😁
nemuru ＝ ねむる
Please let us know if you have any questions!
Thank you for studying with us!
Sincerely,
Erica
Team JapanesePod101.com
ねする・nemuru
Can you make a sentence using a Japanese onomatopoeia word? Leave a comment!