onomatopoeia

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
16
Words With Friends
19
Letters
12
Pronunciation
/ˌɒnəˌmætəˈpiːə/
See all 6 pronunciations
/ˌɒnəˌmætəˈpiːə/ · /ˌɒnəˌmɛtəˈpæɪə/ · /ˌɑnəˌmætəˈpiːə/ (US) · /ˌɑnəˌmɑtəˈpiːə/ (US) · /ˌɑnəˌmɑnəˈpiːə/ · /ɔnomæʈoˈpijɑ/

Definition of onomatopoeia

4 senses · 1 part of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. (uncountable)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.”
See all 4 definitions

noun

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

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

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…

See full 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.

Words you can make from onomatopoeia

200+ playable · top: PTOMAINE (12 pts)

Best play ptomaine 12 points

8-letter words

1 word

7-letter words

16 words

6-letter words

35 words

5-letter words

50 words

4-letter words

97 words

Hooks

1 extension · 1 back

A single letter you can add to onomatopoeia to make another valid word.

Find your best play with onomatopoeia

See every word you can make from a set of letters that includes onomatopoeia, or browse word lists you can mine for high-scoring plays.