RRhetoric
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Sound & Diction

Onomatopoeia

on-uh-mat-uh-PEE-uh / ˌɒnəˌmætəˈpiːə

Words that sound like what they mean — buzz, crack, murmur. At full strength, whole lines can be built so their sound acts out the event they describe.

"The moan of doves in immemorial elms, / And murmuring of innumerable bees" — Tennyson

Don't confuse it with Alliteration, Assonance. Alliteration and assonance pattern sounds without imitating anything; onomatopoeia requires the sound-sense match.

Drill its family — Sound & Diction

In the Reader — 2 excerpts

And the mome raths outgrabe.
— Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass · open the passage →
Brrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiing! An alarm clock clanged in the dark and silent room. A bed spring creaked. A woman's voice sang out impatiently: "Bigger, shut that thing off!"
— Richard Wright, Native Son · open the passage →

The rest of the family

Alliteration Assonance Tmesis Neologism Archaism Solecism Epithet