| onomatopy | <philosophy> The formation of words in imitation of sounds; a figure of speech in which the sound of a word is imitative of the sound of the thing which the word represents; as, the buzz of bees; the hiss of a goose; the crackle of fire. It has been maintained by some philologist that all primary words, especially names, were formed by imitation of natural sounds. Origin: L, fr. Gr., a name + to make. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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