Onomatopoeia Examples, From Buzz and Splash to Typing and Texting
Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates the sound of the thing it names, so saying it aloud almost makes the noise. Ten well-known examples are buzz, hiss, moo, splash, gurgle, bang, boom, achoo, whoosh and tick-tock.
Nowadays, communication via digital platforms means an entirely new vocabulary of sound. When you're casually texting, typing an angry comment, or looking up a professional paper writing service to get help with an English essay, knowing modern sound words is part of it. In fact, studying digital slang to see how language evolves is very interesting.
The name comes from the Greek onomatopoiia, "word-making" (Oxford Learner's Dictionaries). It names both the technique and the sound words themselves, which are also called onomatopoeias (Dictionary.com). The classic examples come first below, then the modern ones for typing, texting and phone alerts.
Common onomatopoeia examples by sound
Six groups of everyday sounds, each with what makes the sound and one sentence that uses it.
Animal sounds
Examples: moo (a cow), oink (a pig), baa (a sheep), woof (a dog), meow (a cat), quack (a duck), cluck (a hen), cock-a-doodle-doo (a rooster), buzz (a bee), hiss (a snake), chirp (a small bird), cuckoo (the bird, named after its call).
In a sentence: Somewhere behind the barn, a cow mooed and a rooster let out a late cock-a-doodle-doo.
Water and liquids
Examples: splash (something hitting water), drip (one drop falling), plop (a small object dropping into liquid), gurgle (water running down a drain), fizz (bubbles in a drink), slosh (liquid moving in a container), glug (liquid poured from a bottle), burble (a stream bubbling over stones), squelch (a foot in deep mud), pitter-patter (light rain).
In a sentence: Rain went pitter-patter on the roof, and every few seconds a drip from the ceiling landed in the bucket with a plop.
Impacts and collisions
Examples: bang (a sudden loud hit or shot), boom (thunder or an explosion), crash (something breaking or falling), thud (a heavy, dull landing), thump (a heavy blow, or a pounding heart), smack (a sharp slap), whack (a hard hit with a stick or bat), slam (a door shut hard), clatter (hard objects falling together), crunch (something brittle being crushed), bam (a comic-book punch), pow (a punch or a sudden blast).
In a sentence: The shelf gave way with a crash, and the books hit the floor one thud at a time.
Voices and the body
Examples: achoo (a sneeze), hiccup (a sudden catch in the throat), gulp (swallowing fast), burp (air coming up after a meal), slurp (drinking noisily), munch (chewing something crunchy), giggle (a light, silly laugh), mumble (speaking too quietly to follow), murmur (a low, soft voice), shush (asking for quiet), hum (singing with the lips closed), grunt (a short, low noise of effort).
In a sentence: Halfway through the speech, someone at the back let out a loud hiccup, and the whole row began to giggle.
Air and movement
Examples: whoosh (something rushing past), swish (a tail or a skirt moving through the air), swoosh (a fast, smooth sweep), whizz (something flying past at speed), zoom (a fast car or plane), zip (a quick dash, or a zipper closing), flap (wings or a flag in the wind), rustle (dry leaves or paper), puff (a short breath of air or smoke), whistle (air forced through a narrow gap).
In a sentence: A gust of wind came through the window with a whoosh, and the papers on the desk began to rustle.
Machines and everyday objects
Examples: tick-tock (a clock), ding-dong (a doorbell), beep (an electronic alert), honk (a car horn, or a goose), vroom (an engine revving), click (a switch or a pen), clang (metal hitting metal), clink (two glasses touching), creak (an old door or floorboard), squeak (a dry hinge, or a mouse), rattle (loose parts shaking), whir (a fan or motor spinning).
In a sentence: The old clock went tick-tock in the hall until the ding-dong of the doorbell made everyone jump.
Modern onomatopoeia: typing, texting and phone sounds
Think about the last time your phone buzzed in your pocket: your brain gave it a sound, a short ping or a quiet bloop. Screens, keyboards and apps have added their own sound words to English, and they work in a sentence just like the older ones.
For typing, the usual choices are clack and clickety-clack on a physical keyboard and tap-tap-tap on a phone screen. For a phone notification, ping or ding works, or bzzzt for a vibration.
Device sounds and UI notifications
Our devices talk to us constantly. These words copy the sounds of modern hardware and app alerts.
| Sound word | What it signals |
|---|---|
| Ping | A quick notification that you have a message. |
| Bloop | A soft, bubble-like sound when a chat window pops up. |
| Bzzzt | A phone vibrating on a hard surface. |
| Zzzt | A quick, single haptic buzz from pressing the screen. |
| Ding | An email delivered successfully, or an app update completing. |
| Clack | The loud, satisfying sound of a mechanical keyboard. |
| Clickety-clack | Fast, steady typing on a physical keyboard. |
| Click | An ordinary mouse click, or a lock button being pressed. |
| Whoosh | A message or email leaving your outbox. |
Gestures, media and glitches
| Group | Sound word | What it signals |
|---|---|---|
| Swiping and typing | Tap-tap-tap | Gentle, rhythmic typing on a phone screen. |
| Swiping and typing | Swoosh | A screen transition, or swiping an app away. |
| Swiping and typing | Zip | Rapid movement through an image gallery or a run of stories. |
| Swiping and typing | Pop | A menu option expanding on screen. |
| Swiping and typing | Snap | A laptop lid closing quickly. |
| Swiping and typing | Crackle | A bad connection or a lagging stream breaking up. |
| Video and audio | Ba-bum | The dramatic intro sound as a stream starts. |
| Video and audio | Boom | A bass-heavy drop in a track, or an explosion in a clip. |
| Video and audio | Whir | A computer fan spinning up while rendering video. |
| Video and audio | Beep | The sound used to censor a curse word. |
| Errors and failures | Bip-bip-bip | A system error alert or similar warning. |
| Errors and failures | Thud | A phone landing on the floor. |
| Errors and failures | Crack | The hated sound of a screen protector cracking. |
Human reactions and vocal texting
Short words that add personality to a message. Some, such as meh and aw, are interjections rather than true sound imitations, but in a text they do the same job.
| Sound word | What it conveys |
|---|---|
| Ugh | Frustration with something, or exhaustion. |
| Oof | A reaction to unpleasant news. |
| Heh | A cynical, quiet chuckle over text. |
| Haha | The standard, reliable laugh. |
| Bahahaha | Uncontrollable, genuine laughter. |
| Meh | Indifference, boredom, or a lack of enthusiasm. |
| Pffft | Disbelief, mockery, or dismissing an absurd text. |
| Gasp | Astonishment or shock at some news. |
| Sigh | Disappointment or weariness. |
| Hm | A pause, or scepticism about what you are reading. |
| Yawn | Boredom, or staying up too late scrolling. |
| Aw | A reaction to an adorable video or a sweet message. |
| Eww | Immediate disgust. |
| Gulp | Fear or anxiety before sending a risky message. |
Onomatopoeia examples in sentences
Each sentence below puts the sound word in italics. Some use it as a noun (a ping), some as a verb (buzzed), and some as an exclamation on its own (Crash!).
- The bacon began to sizzle as soon as it hit the pan.
- My phone gave a soft ping, and I knew she had finally replied.
- Crash! The tray of glasses hit the kitchen floor.
- Bees buzzed around the lavender all afternoon.
- The balloon burst with a pop that made the toddler cry.
- I could hear the clack of his keyboard through the wall at midnight.
- The snake gave a low hiss and slid under the rock.
- Achoo! The dust in the attic set off another sneeze.
- Her laptop fan began to whir the moment she opened the video editor.
- The frog jumped off the lily pad and landed in the pond with a splash.
- A bzzzt on the desk told me the group chat had woken up.
- The old gate creaked open in the wind.
- The email left my outbox with a satisfying whoosh.
- Thunder boomed over the hills, and the dog hid under the bed.
- The kids slurped their milkshakes and giggled at the noise.
How to use onomatopoeia in writing
A sound word is a shortcut to the reader's ears. It says that something happened and how it sounded, often in one word: the door slammed does the work of the door shut hard and loudly.
When a sound word helps
Reach for one when the sound matters to the moment: a sudden noise that changes what happens next, a background sound that sets the mood, or a small detail that makes a scene feel real. That is why sound words turn up most in stories, poems and descriptive paragraphs, which build a scene through the senses. In a formal essay or report, a sound word usually only belongs when you are quoting or discussing one.
To practise, write a descriptive paragraph with sound words: pick the Descriptive mode in the paragraph generator, describe a scene in one line, then swap flat verbs in the draft for your own sound words.
Spelling, punctuation and italics
Use the dictionary spelling when a sound word has one. When it does not, as with bzzzt or pffft, pick one spelling and keep it the same all the way through. Spellings also change from language to language: Vocabulary.com notes that dogs say wan wan in Japanese and gav gav in Greek. In English, they say woof.
No rule for italics is shared by every style guide, so check what your teacher or publisher prefers. A sensible default: put a sound word in italics when it stands alone as a sound effect (Bang! The lights went out.) and leave it in plain type when it works as an ordinary verb or noun (The door banged shut.). Let punctuation set the volume, too: an exclamation mark for a sudden, loud sound, and none for a soft one.
Why not to overuse them
One well-placed sound word does more than three stacked together. Bang, crash, boom reads like a cartoon; a single thud in a quiet paragraph makes the reader sit up. Read the passage aloud: if the sound words start to compete, cut the weakest.
Three ways to build the sentence
Frequently asked questions
Related: see the full Grammar & Word Choice guide for more confused-word, punctuation, and AI-writing explainers.
Put those sound words into a paragraph
Give the paragraph generator a topic and a tone, then drop your own sound words into the draft.