Onomatopoeias / Study Finnish

Onomatopoeis are the naming of a thing or action by vocally imitating the sound associated with it. For example, bees buzz and dogs bark. Onomatopoeias come up quite often so they are good to be familiar with when learning a new language. Listed below are many common ones.

For more information check this cross-linguistic onomatopoeias(Opens in new window) article from Wikipedia.

List of onomatopoeias for eating and drinking

Example	English	Finnish
Biting	Chomp, munch, nom	Rousk
Eating food	Yum yum, om nom nom, slurp slurp	Nam nam, nami nami
Swallowing	Gulp	Klup

List of onomatopoeias for bodily functions and involuntary sounds

Example	English	Finnish
Heart beating	Thump thump, ba boom, ba bump, lub-dub	Tu-tum, pu-pum
Belching	Burp	Röyh
Coughing	Koff	Köh köh
Flatulence	Fart, poot, toot, blapp, pfft	Prut, prööt
Sneezing	Atishoo, achoo	Atshii, atshiu, atsiuh, ätshii, ätshiu, ätsiuh
Snoring	Zzz	Krooh pyyh
Yawning	Yawn	Haukotus

List of onomatopoeias for animal sounds

Example	English	Finnish
Chicken clucking	Cluck cluck, bok bok bok, bok bok b’gawk	Kot kot
Rooster crowing	Cock a doodle doo	kukkokiekuu, kukko (cock), kiekuu (crowing)
Turkey calling	Gobble gobble	Klu klu klu
Duck calling	Quack	Kvaak kvaak
Bird singing	chirp chirp, tweet tweet, cheep cheep, peep peep	tsirp tsirp, tviit, piip piip, ti-ti-tyy
Crow calling	Caw caw	Kraa kraa
Owl hooting	Hoo hoo	Huhuu
Cat meowing	Meow	Miau, mau, nau, kurnau
Dog barking	Woof, arf, bow wow, ruff, yap yap	Hau hau, vuh vuh
Dog or wolf howling	Awooo	Auuu, vouuu
Horse whinnying	Neigh	Ii-ha-haa
Horse trotting	Clip clop	Klip-klop
Donkey braying	Hee-haw, wee-snaw	Ihaa
Cow mooing	Moo	Ammuu, muu, möö
Sheep bleating	Baa	Mää, bää
Goat bleating	Maa, naa	Mä-ä-ä-ää, bä-ä-ä-ää
Pig grunting	Oink oink	Röh röh, nöf nöf
Pig squealing	Bree bree	Skviik
Elephant trumpeting	Baraag, nrrr, toot	Tööt, trööt
Lion/tiger roaring	Roar, grrr, rawr, roar	Mur
Monkey chatting	Oo-ooh a-aah	Juk juk, tsik tsik
Bee buzzing	Buzz, bzzz	Surr, surrur
Frog croaking	Ribbit, gribbit, croak	Kurr kurr, kroak

List of general onomatopoeias

Example	English	Finnish
Baby crying	Wah wah	Byääh, yää
Scream	Ah, arghh ow, ouch, yeow, yow, agh, eek, yikes, oof	Au, ai, auts
Shriek	Yagh, gah, eek, yikes	Iik, kääk
Hushing	Hush, shh, shush	Shh, hys
Pausing or thinking	Uh, um, er, erm, hmmm, mmm	Öö
Laughter	Haha, heh-heh, hoho, (tee)heehee	Haha, hahhah, hehe, hehheh, hihi, höhö
Kiss	Mwah, smooch, smack	Muisk
Balloon or bubble bursting	Pop, bang	Poks
Cannon firing, gunshot, machine gun fire	bam, boom, blam, kaboom; bang, pow; rat-at-at-at-at-at, gat-gat-gat-gat, skkrrt skkrrt, dakka-dakka	Pum, pam, ra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta, rä-tä-tä-tä-tä-tä
Crash	Boom, bam, wham, slam, bang, crash, clash, pow, thonk, thunk, thud, clang	Pam, pum, ryskis, kolin, räiskis
Door or floor creaking	Creak	Kriik, narsk
Knocking	Knock knock, bang bang bang	Kop kop
Car engine revving	Vroom vroom, broom broom	Vruum vruum, bruum bruum, prööm prööm
Car horn honking	Honk honk, beep beep, toot toot	Tööt tööt
Clock ticking	Tick tock	Tik tak
Doorbell ringing	Ding-dong	Pim pom
Siren wailing	Wee-woo, ee naw, waow-waow	Pii paa, viiuu viiuu viiuu
Train whistling	Choo choo, woo woo	Tuut tuut
Electric shock	Zap	Tsäp
Water dripping	Drip drop, plink plonk	Tip tip
Wind blowing or waves flowing	Whoo, whoosh, swish, rustle, whine, whizz, whistle, wheeze, howl, zoom, sigh, sough, surf	Viuuh
Jingling	Clink clank, dingle dangle, jingle jangle	Kilin, helin