Could someone kindly tell me where I could find a list of onomatopoeic words? I am translating a short story from Romanian into English. At one point the author says [translation follows, with Romanian word in capitals]: "...the melting asphalt into which the high heels of her shoes were sinking with a FLEOSC" What would be the English equivalent? "Swoosh" (Probably not). "Slosh"?
Dorin
Hello Doru.
I don't have a complete list of onomatopoeic words, but you can find a short list here:
http://teenwriting.about.com/library/blank/blstory1459.htm?once=true&It seems to me that you want something like "squish" for the sound of high heels sinking into melting asphalt. Don't be shy about making up a word that seems to sound like the effect the author intends.
Thank you, Sparteye. Coming up with my own word for that sound was precisely what I had thought of doing, and now, with your blessing, I will be doing. Great list.
Doru
a totally irresistible urge
Oh, go ahead, Max. Resist it.
Dear Sparteye: I looked at the link you gave. It had a lot of good ones, but I counted twelve words that I do not believe are onomatopoeia: allude,asinine,blurred,bow,cling,explode,lexicon,rose,shimmy,tingle,twinkle, and veracity.
two thoughts, bill...
1) onomatopoeia itself is an old, Greek word; so maybe some of the old roots of these words were formed from the imitation of sounds
2) there is a second sense to the word onomatopoeia (and this is the more likely explanation): the use of words whose sound suggests the sense [it's a chicken and egg sort of thing]
"explode" sounds like one to me because of the "xpl-" sound.
For the same reason that "blink" does sound like the "interrupter" in an auto's turn signal circuit... "twinkle" seems to work... a little bit.
The etymology of "explode" is not what I thought, so even if dictionary's first meaning is to "explode a theory" (which ought not be done with dynamite) everything else is in favor of onomatopoeia, so I was wrong on that one.
The question of "blink" being onomatopoeia is akin to the drill sergeant's order "Eyes right, and I want to hear those eyeballs click!"