Onomatopoeia (noun)
on-oh-mat-a-pee-uh
The formation of a word by imitation of a sound made by or associated with its referent.
First recorded in 1570–80 and comes via Late Latin, from the Greek word onomatopoiía, which translates as “the making of words.”The word ‘poet’ shares the same Greek stem.
Example sentences
“The comic book artist skillfully used onomatopoeia in the action scenes, drawing “zap” and “pow” in speech bubbles.”
Wonky (adj) won-kee Not straight or balanced, off kilter. First recorded in 1915–20; perhaps variant of dialectal wanky, equivalent to wank(le) ( Middle English wankel, Old English wancol. (more…)