What are Ideophones?

Types of Ideophones

Giongo 擬音語, Inanimate Phonomime

Examples of Giongo 擬音語

dokidoki ドキドキ

*thump-thump.*

Mimics the sound of a heart thumping.

ドキドキ *thump-thump.* Mimics the sound of a heart thumping. zaazaa ざあざあ

*white noise*

Mimics some indiscernible, constant noise. Like that of rain, for example, or static.

ざあざあ *white noise* Mimics some indiscernible, constant noise. Like that of rain, for example, or static. pyon ぴょん

*boing*

Mimicsthe sound of something bouncing and jumping.

ぴょん *boing* Mimicsthe sound of something bouncing and jumping. gachan がちゃん

*clank*

Mimics the sound of slamming something into something, like a telephone receiver for example.

がちゃん *clank* Mimics the sound of slamming something into something, like a telephone receiver for example. gokun ゴクン

*gulp*

Mimics the sound of swallowing.

Giongo = Onomatopoeia Sometimes

Giseigo 擬声語, Animate Phonomime

Examples of Giseigo 擬声語

nyaa にゃー

*meow*

It mimics a sound a cat makes.

にゃー *meow* It mimics a sound a cat makes. wanwan わんわん

*bow-wow* *woof-woof*

It mimics the sound a dog makes.

わんわん *bow-wow* *woof-woof* It mimics the sound a dog makes. gya'! ぎゃっ！

*shriek*

Eek! Yikes!

Mimics the sound of someone shrieking.

ぎゃっ！ *shriek* Eek! Yikes! Mimics the sound of someone shrieking. kaakaa カーカー

*caw caw*

Mimics the sound crows make.

Gitaigo 擬態語, Phenomime

Examples of Gitaigo 擬態語

pikapika ピカピカ

*sparkle-sparkle*

Mimics the looks of a sparkle sparkling.

ピカピカ *sparkle-sparkle* Mimics the of a sparkle sparkling. nikoniko ニコニコ

*smile-smile*

Mimics the looks of somebody smiling.

ニコニコ *smile-smile* Mimics the looks of somebody smiling. kichinto きちんと

*mimics something done properly and exactly.*

きちんと *mimics something done properly and exactly.* sassato さっさと

*mimics something done finally and impatiently.*

さっさと *mimics something done finally and impatiently.* gyutto ぎゅっと

*mimics squeezing something tightly.*

ぎゅっと *mimics squeezing something tightly.* sokkuri そっくり

*mimics things matching.*

Gijougo 擬情語, Psychomime

情

Examples of Gijougo 擬情語

wakuwaku わくわく

*excitement*

わくわく *excitement* iraira いらいら

*irritation*

いらいら *irritation* harahara はらはら

*anxiety*

はらはら *anxiety* unzari うんざり

*annoyance*

うんざり *annoyance* bikkuri びっくり

*surprise*

Lesser Known Types Basically Nobody Cares About

Words That Fit Multiple Types of Ideophones

gorogoro ゴロゴロ

Phonomime: sound of thundering, purring, huge boulders rolling, etc.

Phenomime: idling around doing nothing.

ゴロゴロ Phonomime: sound of thundering, purring, huge boulders rolling, etc. Phenomime: idling around doing nothing. neko ga gorogoro suru 猫がゴロゴロする

The cat purrs. (you hear it.)

The cat idles around doing nothing. (you see it.)

harahara はらはら

Phenomime: fluttering down, falling but not straight downwards. (e.g. tears.)

Psychomime: anxiety, like of something dangerous, panic.

はらはら Phenomime: fluttering down, falling but not straight downwards. (e.g. tears.) Psychomime: anxiety, like of something dangerous, panic. ha ga harahara to ochiru 葉がハラハラと落ちる

The leaves fall.

葉がハラハラと落ちる The leaves fall. harahara shi-nagara matte-ita ハラハラしながら待っていた

[I] anxiously waited.

Drawing the Line

Anime: Absolute Duo (Altered)

See also: moe moe kyun 萌え萌えキュン.

Differences in Spelling

Mimetic Words Written With Kanji

Onomatopoeic vs. Mimetic Words

What are Ideophones Called in Japanese?

Usage & Grammar

As Nouns

nurunuru ぬるぬる

(mimics sliminess, greasiness, gooey-ness.)

ぬるぬる (mimics sliminess, greasiness, gooey-ness.) abura no nurunuru ga torenai 油のぬるぬるが取れない

Can't take [off] the greasy-greasy of the oil. The oil is "greasy," nurunuru ぬるぬる. That's how it is. It's on somewhere, you're trying to take it off. But because it's so greasy, you can't take it off. The greasiness, i.e. the nurunuru , of the oil remains.

油のぬるぬるが取れない Can't take [off] the of the oil.

As Adjectives

Phenomimetic Adjectives

pittari ぴったり

(mimics fitting exactly, with tight margins, matching precisely.)

ぴったり (mimics fitting exactly, with tight margins, matching precisely.) kore ga pittari desu これがぴったりです

This is fitting exactly.

これがぴったりです This is fitting exactly. This is just what I want! Just what I needed!

pittari no shokugyou ぴったりの職業

The perfect occupation. The perfect job.

That occupation matches [you] perfectly.

pikapika ピカピカ

(mimics sparkles, sparkling.)

ピカピカ (mimics sparkles, sparkling.) rouka ga pikapika desu 廊下がピカピカです

The corridor is sparkling.

The corridor [is so clean, it's] sparkling.

廊下がピカピカです The corridor is sparkling. The corridor [is so clean, it's] sparkling. katta bakari no pikapika no kutsu 買ったばかりのぴかぴかの靴

The sparkling shoes I just bought.

The shoes I just bought are sparkling of new. (I didn't buy no old used shoes!)

Psychomimetic Adjectives

gakkari がっかり

(mimics disappointment.)

がっかり (mimics disappointment.) watashi wa gakkari desu 私はがっかりです

I am feeling disappointment.

(it's unlikely somebody will say this because it has an explicit first-person subject. Instead, you'll normally hear...)

私はがっかりです am feeling disappointment. (it's unlikely somebody will say this because it has an explicit first-person subject. Instead, you'll normally hear...) gakkari da がっかりだ

gakkari desu がっかりです

[I] am feeling disappointment. (implicit "I.")

I feel disappointed.

I'm disappoint. I'm disappointed. This is disappointing.

unzari うんざり

(mimics annoyance.)

うんざり (mimics annoyance.) unzari da うんざりだ

unzari desu うんざりです

[I'm] feeling annoyance.

I feel annoyed.

I am annoyed. You are annoying. This is annoying.

bikkuri! びっくり！

*surprise!*

I'm surprised!

I was surprised!

It was surprising!

As Na な Adjectives

pittari na kutsu ぴったりな靴

Perfectly-fitting shoes.

ぴったりな靴 Perfectly-fitting shoes. bikkuri na nyuusu びっくりなニュース

Surprising news.

News that make you feel surprised.

(not really the same as "surprise news," as that implies someone was hiding those news to surprise somebody, which isn't the case here.)

Naming Things with Ideophones

Nikoniko Douga ニコニコ動画

Niconico Video.

(Japanese video-sharing website, like Youtube.)

ニコニコ動画 Niconico Video. (Japanese video-sharing website, like Youtube.) Dokidoki Bungeibu ドキドキ文芸部

Doki Doki Literature Club.

peropero ペロペロ

*lick-lick*

ペロペロ *lick-lick* peropero kyandhi ペロペロキャンディ

*lick-lick* candy.

Lollipop.

guruguru ぐるぐる

(mimics something spiraling, going around in circles.)

ぐるぐる (mimics something spiraling, going around in circles.) guruguru me ぐるぐる目

Spiraling eyes.

(a type of anime eye, the one you get when chaos issues, a character's head spins, and their eyes are drawn as literal spirals to reflect that.)

As Adverbs

Phenomimetic Adverbs

tappuri たっぷり

(mimics the abundance of something, plentifulness.).

たっぷり (mimics the abundance of something, plentifulness.). jikan ga tappuri aru 時間がたっぷりある

Time plentifully exists . (literal.)

There's a lot of time [to do this.]

時間がたっぷりある Time . (literal.) of time [to do this.] mizu wo tappuri ireru 水をたっぷり入れる

Plentifully put in water.

To put in plenty of water.

kossori こっそり

(mimics doing something furtively.)

こっそり (mimics doing something furtively.) kossori nukedasu こっそり抜け出す

To stealthy slip away.

hakkiri はっきり

(mimics separating one thing from another, being clear, distinct, distinguishable.)

はっきり (mimics separating one thing from another, being clear, distinct, distinguishable.) hakkiri ie はっきり言え

Say it clearly!

Don't mess around! Say it!

はっきり言え Say it clearly! Don't mess around! Say it! hakkiri kikoeta はっきり聞こえた

I hear it clearly.

I hear it [loud and] clear.

kirakira キラキラ

(mimics glittering, generally beautifully.)

(just go watch Kuragehime , you'll get it.)

キラキラ (mimics glittering, generally beautifully.) (just go watch , you'll get it.) kirakira kagayaku houseki キラキラ輝く宝石

Jewel that shines glittering.

Jewel that shines beautifully.

A marvelously gleaming gem.

yukkuri ゆっくり

(mimics acting slowly, without hurry, calmly, in tranquil.) Does not imply tardiness.

ゆっくり (mimics acting slowly, without hurry, calmly, in tranquil.) yukkuri susumu ゆっくり進む

To progress slowly, but steadily .

To progress calmly.

To go on without hurry.

ゆっくり進む To progress . To progress calmly. To go on without hurry. yukkuri hanasu ゆっくり話す

To speak slowly, and calmly.

To not talk hurriedly, fast-mouthed.

ゆっくり話す To speak slowly, and calmly. To not talk hurriedly, fast-mouthed. yukkuri kangaeru ゆっくり考える

To think [about it] without hurry.

To think [about it] with calm.

chanto ちゃんと

(mimics something being done properly, diligently.)

ちゃんと (mimics something being done properly, diligently.) chanto hatarake ちゃんと働け

Work properly!

Work right!

Work well!

ちゃんと働け Work properly! Work right! Work well! kotaeru mae ni chanto kangaete 答える前にちゃんと考えて

Before answering, think [about it] properly.

答える前にちゃんと考えて Before answering, think [about it] properly. chanto miteiru ちゃんと見ている

Seeing properly.

[He's] actually looking at [me]. (e.g. literally every school anime with a character that feels ignored by their parents, etc. until they finally find a teacher or coach or somebody cares about them enough to "see [them] properly.")

jitto じっと

(mimics something not moving, staying still.)

じっと (mimics something not moving, staying still.) sore wo jitto miteita それをじっと見ていた

[He] saw that still... fully. Or however you'd say that.

He saw that without moving, or blinking, or breathing, okay, maybe he was breathing. He could've been breathing.

He stared at that.

He was staring at that.

それをじっと見ていた [He] saw that still... fully. Or however you'd say that. He saw that without moving, or blinking, or breathing, okay, maybe he was breathing. He could've been breathing. He at that. He at that. jitto ugokanai じっと動かない

To not move still. (what?)

To not move, without moving. (that still doesn't make sense in English.)

Emphasis on staying still: to not move.

So still & not moving.

(lemme get a dictionary.)

To motionlessly not move. (this is the best I can do.)

Oddly Specific Ideophonic Adverbs

perapera ペラペラ

(mimics a mouth moving around fluently, without stuttering.)

ペラペラ (mimics a mouth moving around fluently, without stuttering.) nihongo wo hanaseru 日本語を話せる

Able to speak Japanese.

日本語を話せる Able to speak Japanese. nihongo wo perapera hanaseru 日本語をペラペラ話せる

Able to fluently speak the Japanese language.

jirojiro じろじろ

(mimics someone staring.)

じろじろ (mimics someone staring.) miru na! 見るな！

Don't look!

見るな！ Don't look! jirojiro miru na! じろじろ見るな！

Don't stare!

peropero ペロペロ

*lick-lick* (onomatopoeia for the licking sound)

ペロペロ *lick-lick* (onomatopoeia for the licking sound) peropero nameru ペロペロ舐める

To lick... making the sound of licking?

Licking lots?

Lick loudly?

Anyway, double, no, triple lick right there.

gussuri ぐっすり

(mimics sleeping soundly. Err, I mean sleeping soundly as in sleeping well . This doesn't mimic a sound, it's a phenomime.)

ぐっすり (mimics sleeping soundly. Err, I mean sleeping soundly as in sleeping . This doesn't mimic a sound, it's a phenomime.) hisashiburi ni gussuri nemureta 久しぶりにぐっすり眠れた

Once since long could sleep soundly.

It's been ages since I was able to sleep this well.

Oddly Redundant Ideophonic Adverbs

gyutto dakishimete ぎゅっと抱きしめて

Hug [me] tightly.

gyutto ぎゅっと

(mimics squeezing something tightly)

ぎゅっと (mimics squeezing something tightly) daku 抱く

To hug.

To hug. shimeru 締める

To tighten

gyutto daite ぎゅっと抱いて

Hug [me] tightly.

To tightly hug. (literally.)

ぎゅっと抱いて Hug [me] tightly. To tightly hug. (literally.) dakishimete 抱きしめて

Hug [me] tightly.

To hug tightening. (literally.)

Psychomimetic Adverbs

ukkari うっかり

(mimics blunders, thoughtlessness, lack of attention.)

うっかり (mimics blunders, thoughtlessness, lack of attention.) ukkari himitsu wo morasu うっかり秘密を漏らす

To thoughtlessly leak a secret.

To leak a secret by mistake.

With a blunder, to leak a secret.

To—oops!—leak a secret.

Sukkari すっかり vs. Kanzen-ni 完全に

sukkari すっかり

(mimics suddenly realizing something changing completely, after not noticing it for a while. (オノマトペ（擬態語・擬音語） - kasumigasekikai.or.jp) ) The term kanzen-ni 完全に, would be a "completely" adverb that's not a psychomime nuanced in feeling.

すっかり (mimics suddenly realizing something changing completely, after not noticing it for a while. ) sukkari wasureta すっかり忘れた

Completely forgot.

(you know when you forget about something, but you don't realize it, because it didn't really bother you, or something like that? You know? Like being blissfully ignorant, but more like blissfully forgetful? Yeah, nevermind.)

すっかり忘れた forgot. (you know when you forget about something, but you don't realize it, because it didn't really bother you, or something like that? You know? Like being blissfully ignorant, but more like blissfully forgetful? Yeah, nevermind.) sukkari osoku natta すっかり遅くなった

It completely got late.

Before I noticed, time flew, and now we're completely late. Oops. Sorry.

すっかり遅くなった It completely got late. Before I noticed, time flew, and now we're completely late. Oops. Sorry. sukkari otona ni natta すっかり大人になった

Completely became an adult.

Look at ya! You've completely become an adult now! Grew up so fast I didn't notice it!

すっかり大人になった Completely became an adult. Look at ya! You've completely become an adult now! Grew up so fast I didn't notice it! sukkari genki ni natta すっかり元気になった

Completely became well. (like, in health.)

I was sick in bed with cold, but before I knew it I had completely recovered and gotten well, ready to go back to school and start fighting evil organizations or something!

Sappari さっぱり

sappari さっぱり

(mimics relief, refreshment, clearness.)

さっぱり (mimics relief, refreshment, clearness.) sappari da さっぱりだ

sappari desu さっぱりです

I have no idea.

(I mean, that's what it means, "I have no idea.")

sappari wakarimasen さっぱり分かりません

I completely don't know. I don't know anything.

さっぱり分かりません I completely don't know. I don't know anything. sappari mienai さっぱり見えない

I completely can't seen. I can't see anything.

ofuro ni haitte sappari shita お風呂に入ってさっぱりした

ofuro ni haitte sukkiri shita お風呂に入ってすっきりした

[I was feeling pretty tired before, but then] I took a bath and now I feel refreshed.

Adverbs With To と Particle

Optional To と

gungun ぐんぐん

(mimics something growing up, developing, usually fast or healthily.)

ぐんぐん (mimics something growing up, developing, usually fast or healthily.) ookiku naru 大きくなる

To become big.

大きくなる To become big. gungun ookiku naru ぐんぐん大きくなる

gungun to ookiku naru ぐんぐんと大きくなる

[They're] growing up well. (e.g. the veggies in my home farm.)

Quoting To と vs. Adverbializer To と, or Modifying Actions by Sound vs. Aspect

aka to itta 赤と言った

"Red" - said.

The word "red" was said.

[He] said "red."

aka to itta 赤と言った

It's doing this " aka " thing while saying.

It's saying " aka ."

It said "red."

赤と言った It's doing this " " thing while saying. It's saying " ." It said "red." gungun to ookiku naru ぐんぐんと大きくなる

It's doing this "gungun" thing while becoming big.

It's becoming big gungun'ng.

It's—gungun!—growing up.

Embedded To と

chan ちゃん

(this means a bunch of things, but an adverb is not one of them.)

ちゃん (this means a bunch of things, but an adverb is not one of them.) chanto ちゃんと

(this is the ideophonic adverb.)

ちゃんと (this is the ideophonic adverb.) chanto to ちゃん とと

(no D:< you don't do this!)

kichin きちん

(no.)

きちん (no.) kichinto きちんと

(yes.)

きちんと (yes.) kichinto to きちんとと

(no...)

Adverbs Created by Embedding To と

As Verbs with Suru する

Feeling Suru する

iraira いらいら

(mimics irritation.)

いらいら (mimics irritation.) iraira suru いらいらする

To feel irritated.

I feel irritated.

It irritates me.

wakuwaku わくわく

(mimics excitement.)

わくわく (mimics excitement.) wakuwaku suru わくわくする

To feel excited. To feel pumped up! (WAKU WAKUuu!!!!1)

TENSION = HIGH.

wHOOOOOOOOOOO

I AM READY FOR THIS >: D

fuwafuwa ふわふわ

(mimics soft, drifting lightness, like clouds, pillows, etc.)

ふわふわ (mimics soft, drifting lightness, like clouds, pillows, etc.) atama ga fuwafuwa suru 頭がふわふわする

Head feels light. (literally.)

I'm light-headed. Can't think straight. (i.e. you're drunk.)

Seeming Suru する

jitto じっと

(mimics motionlessness.)

じっと (mimics motionlessness.) jitto suru じっとする

To feature motionlessness.

To be motionless.

To be still.

hakkiri shinai hito はっきりしない人

Not distinct-do person.

Person that doesn't make things clear.

ho' ほっ

*sigh*

ほっ *sigh* hotto ほっと

*with a sigh of relief*

ほっと *with a sigh of relief* hotto shita kao ほっとした顔

Relieved face.

Be Like This, Shite して, or Don't, Shinaide しないで

jitto shite じっとして

Stay still.

(for a photo, for example, or maybe if somebody is trying to fix your necktie, certainly not the language the police would use before putting the cuffs on someone.)

hakkiri shiro! はっきりしろ！

Make it clear!

shikkari しっかり

(mimics having a tight grip, grasp on things, control.)

しっかり (mimics having a tight grip, grasp on things, control.) shikkari shinasai yo しっかりしなさいよ

Pull yourself together! Get a hold of yourself! Get a grip, man!

しっかりしなさいよ Pull yourself together! Get a hold of yourself! Get a grip, man! te wo shikkari nigitte hanasanai you-ni 手をしっかりと握って離さないように

Hold [my] hand tightly in a way [you're] not separated.

Hold [your mom's] hand tightly so you're not left behind. (e.g. talking to a child.)

手をしっかりと握って離さないように Hold [my] hand tightly in a way [you're] not separated. Hold [your mom's] hand tightly so you're not left behind. (e.g. talking to a child.) shikkari tsukmattoke しっかりつかまっとけ

Grab firmly. (you know those anime with some romantic couple in them, and they have to go somewhere do something, so one of them gets on their bicycle, or motorbike, or griffon, pegasus, dragon, witch broom, giant robot, flying carpet, reflection board, or whatever other unstable vehicle they got that can make people think "geez, man, you're totally going to fall off from that thang and smash your face all over the floor" and they tell their on-foot romantic interest to "get in" on the passenger spot and "hold on tightly" to their probably badass jacket or mundane bland MC shirt? Well, this is it.)

Ideophonic Portmanteaus

pakupaku ぱくぱく

(mimics opening and closing your mouth.)

ぱくぱく (mimics opening and closing your mouth.) kuchi-paku 口パク

Lip-syncing. (i.e. opening your mouth in a way to match a recorded song so you look like you know to sing it without actually singing anything.)

tsuntsun つんつん

*acting unfriendly.* Cold.

つんつん *acting unfriendly.* Cold. deredere でれでれ

*flirting.* *fawning.*

でれでれ *flirting.* *fawning.* tsundere つんでれ

Anime girl archetype that acts unfriendly, then fawning, rinse and repeat.

(the other dere types follow the same pattern.)

kabe 壁

Wall.

壁 Wall. don! ドン！

*thud*

ドン！ *thud* kabedon 壁ドン

A romantic move where you put a hand on the wall, closing in on your romantic interest.

(and yes, there are sub-types of this, you can find them in the post about kabedon.)

aheahe あへあへ

*panting*

(you know what, I think we've seen enough examples already.)

Mukatsuku! ムカつく！

mukatsuku! ムカつく！

It makes me mad!

ムカつく！ It makes me mad! iratsuku! イラつく！

It makes me irritated!

How are Ideophones Made?

Words vs. Ideophones

Ideasthesia & Sound Symbolism

Ideophonic Patterns

Reduplication: words that repeat themselves. wakuwaku わくわく

わくわく zaazaa ざあざあ

ざあざあ pikapika ピカピカ ri り ending. hakkiri はっきり

はっきり tappuri たっぷり

たっぷり yukkuri ゆっくり to と ending. sassato さっさと

さっさと chanto ちゃんと

ちゃんと jitto じっと

Reduplication

Manga: JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 - Part 3: Stardust Crusaders

Context: Kakyouin Noriaki 花京院典明 enjoys a cherry.

花京院典明 enjoys a cherry. rerorerorerorerorerorerorerorerorerorerorerorerorerorerorerorerorero

レロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロ

*lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick*

レロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロ *lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick* rerorerorerorerorerorerorerorerorerorerorerorerorerorerorerorerorerorero

レロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロ

*lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick*

Dereduplication

Manga: Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san からかい上手の高木さん (Chapter 1, 消しゴム)

doki'

ドキッ

*thump*

Manga: Komi-san wa, Comyushou desu. 古見さんは、コミュ症です。 (Chapter 15, 登校です)

niko'

ニコッ

*smile*

Lack of Rendaku 連濁

katsukatsu かつかつ

*clacking.*

かつかつ *clacking.* kachikachi かちかち

*chinking.*

かちかち *chinking.* kasakasa かさかさ

*rustling.*

かさかさ *rustling.* karikari かりかり

*scratching.*

かりかり *scratching.* kankan かんかん

*raging.*

かんかん *raging.* katakata かたかた

*rattling.*

かたかた *rattling.* karakara からから

*parching.*

からから *parching.* kasukasu かすかす

*drying.*

かすかす *drying.* kayakaya かやかや

*chattering*

かやかや *chattering* kaakaa かあかあ

*caw-caw...ing!*

Ending with Ri り

Ending with To と

Small Tsu っ Ending

Prolongation

Hiragana ー

Degrees & Levels

N ん Endings

Lists of Ideophones

擬音語・擬態語 - rondely.com/zakkaya/

Dictionary for Japanese natives learning English.

Includes example phrases with Japanese to English translations for ideophones.

擬音リスト - geocities.co.jp/Bookend-Christie

Thousands of entries in a single plain text list.

Thousands of entries in a single plain text list. 擬音語・擬態語 - nihonjiten.com

Index of ideophones with links to the dictionary definition.

Index of ideophones with links to the dictionary definition. オノマトペ辞典 - sura-sura.com

Hundreds of posts with images.

Mimetic words, or ideophones, are words which mimic or evoke an idea. One kind of ideophone are onomatopoeia , which mimic sounds. But Japanese also features hundreds of non-onomatopoeic ideophones, likeさっぱり,ゆっくり,きちんと,ちゃんと,わくわく,ぴかぴか,にこにこ, among others.This post will explain how such words work.are words that evoke ideas, by mimicking them somehow, hence why they're also called. Onomatopoeia mimic the sounds of things, so they're one kind of ideophone, but there are other kinds too.To have an idea a better idea of what I'm talking about, let's have a look at four types of ideophones.You'll see their names all follow a擬〇語 pattern, the kanji meaning "imitated something words," as each refers to words that mimic something. Also, there are linguistic terms in English for some of them.Inanimate Phonomimes, or擬音語, "imitated sound words," mimic the sound of inanimate things. (phonological mimicry, phonomime). That is, the sound that anything that's not alive makes.The wordonly means "phonomimes" when it's used to contrast with "animate phonomimes." Sometimes,means just "phonomimes," that is, sometimesmeans all of the "onomatopoeia" instead of only the inanimate part of them.An animate phonomime,擬声語, "imitated voice words," mimic the voice of things, in particular, the voice of people, like shrieks, and the sounds animals make A phenomime,擬態語, "imitated state words," mimic the state of things. How they are, look like, feel like, smell like, develop, etc. This is an umbrella term. Any ideophone that's not an onomatopoeia in Japanese is a擬態語.Some non-onomatopoeic ideophones mimic the static appearance of things and can be used as nouns, but some of them refer to a dynamic process—how things are done, how an action develops—so they end up becoming adverbs.A psychomime,擬情語, "imitated emotion words," mimic how you feel, your "emotions,"This is one of the lesser known sub-types of, and there are rather few words of this kind, but I'm mentioning it here because the distinction is the somewhat easy to make.(can I just say how cool the word psychomime is? It's like, a mime, who's a psycho. Psycho mime! That's not what it means though, but it sounds cool.)The term擬態語, "phenomime," is the one Japanese people know about, from school. Phenomimes are subdividedinto擬情語, "psychomime," and擬容語 (no English term, refers to words likeぼーっと, "absentmindedly," that are sorta like feelings, sorta like appearance.) plus some other terms I'm not sure how you'd read or what they mean, like 擬貌語 and 模様語.Some words can fit multiple types of idephones, switching depending on usage.is also the sound Pikachu makes!)These types of ideophones are just ways to classify these words. They aren't that important for learning Japanese, but it's interesting knowing they exist. Besides, the distinction between phenomime and psychomime can get pretty vague.For example, isニコニコ a phenomime for the appearance of a smile, or a psychomime for the feeling of smiling? I'm guessing the former. But it's more of a matter of how the words are used than in which type they fit.In the manga world it's common for sound effects to show up without you knowing if they're onomatopoeic or not until you get an anime adaptation. For example, gogogogo ゴゴゴゴ , from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, is a soundless phenomime, whereas zawa... zawa... ざわ・・・ざわ・・・ from, is somehow an onomatopoeia even though nobody knows where the sound is coming from. (is it the narrator making that sound? Why?? What is he doing???)The funniest one, in my opinion, is the odd case ofじ. Because in manga,じーーー is written as sound effect when a character stares at someone. But surely staring doesn't make asound, so it's not an onomatopoeia. Then, in anime, the voice actors are made voice thissound when the characters are staring, simulating the sound effect from manga.Finally, is kyun きゅん mimicking sound of skipping a heart beat, mimicking the image of a heart tightening when that happens (like the phenomimeぎゅっと), or the emotion that makes your heart skip? It's a complete mystery.(for consistency, I'm basing which words are "psychomimes" in this article on whether they're tagged as P in a list of ideophones found in the study 日本語とカザフ語のオノマトペ語彙の対照研究 - eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp , page 215 of the PDF.)Note that, generally speaking, onomatopoeia,擬音語 (擬声語), are spelled in katakana , while the other mimetic words, the擬態語,擬情語, etc. are spelled in hiragana . There are countless exceptions, however. For example,にゃー is an onomatopoeia,ピカピカ is a phenomime.Since onomatopoeia is fundamentally sound, not meaning, it doesn't have kanji and thus is pretty much always written without kanji . (I say "pretty much" always because there's pretty much always that one in a million exception lying around ready to prove me wrong. Like唖唖 for example.)Some non-onomatopoeic ideophones can be written with kanji , and are, given that they have a rather meaningful nature and can be meaningfully matched with those's meanings.For example:しっかり is a phenomime that can be spelled withas確り.One important thing to understand, is that English has some onomatopoeia, though not as many as Japanese has. And English might, or might not, have a few non-onomatopoeic ideophones, while Japanese has a whole lotta of 'em. (like, hundreds of them.)Because it's such an alien concept to English (and other western languages) native speakers, sometimes they'llrefer toof the Japanese ideophones as "onomatopoeia," including even the ones that are not onomatopoiea.Let me be clear:andare not an onomatopoeia. They might sound like they are, but they aren't. The term for them is "ideophone" or "mimetic word," not "onomatopoeia." Onomatopoeia always refer to stuff that makes sound, if it doesn't make sound, not onomatopoeiaI mean, you can't really blame people for making that mistake. They really end up being similar in Japanese. To have an idea, here's a music video with lyrics made almost entirely of onomatopoeia and non-onomatopoeic ideophones:(also, some people like to divide ideophones into onomatopoeic () and mimetic (), that is, if an ideophone is mimetic it's not an onomatopoeia and vice-versa. My understanding is that onomatopoeia are ideophones, ideophones is synonymous with mimetic words, ergo onomatopoeia are mimetic words.)Anyway, since onomatopoeia is a much more familiar concept to English speakers, I wrote a separate post for it: Onomatopoeia in Japanese . This article will focus on non-onomatopoeic ideophones, which are weirder, but in Japanese are basically used the same way as onomatopoeia.In Japanese, the wordオノマトペ, from the French "onomatopee," is an umbrella term for all ideophones, including the non-onomatopoeic ones. (yeah, it makes no sense, but what can I do?)the word擬声語 is used to refer to all ideophones, and擬音語 to all onomatopoeia., however,擬声語 and擬音語 refer to two distinct types of onomatopoeia: animate and inanimate phonomimes.Below I'm going to show some examples of how mimetic words are used in Japanese.Note that mimetic words aren't homogeneous. The way they are used varies from word to word. Some can be used nouns, others can not. The fact they're ideophones is simply their origin, and has little to do with how they're actually used.Onomatopoeia can be used to refer to the sounds they make, however, most ideophones make very little sense as nouns. This happens because ideophones refer tothings are, and notthey are. So they're mostly used as adverbs instead.One case where an ideophone may be used as a noun is when a phenomime is used to refer to the aspect of a thing. For example:Ideophones can be used as adjectives to associate something to an idea.Since some ideophones can evoke ratherideas about shape or aspect, it's common for them to imply things, and then the English translation wanders around multiple somehow related meanings. For example:Psychomimes can be used to expresssimply by adding the copulaだ,です. Some examples:But, of course, sometimes you don't really need the copula.Like plenty of other words, ideophones can be used asな adjectives too:Sometimes ideophones are used as adjectives for names of things. Like:The core way to use a good number of mimetic words in Japanese are as adverbial ideophones. That is, the word refers tosomething is, and it can be used to modify a verb.The problem is, because Japanese works in many ways differently from how English works, a single "adverb" can be used to say a lot more things than you'd expect.For example, some phenomimes are better translated as adjectives instead of adverbs.But others have more direct translations:They really can range from easy-to-translate to English to "you wouldn't even say this in English." Anyway, it's all relatively easy to understand if you focus on what they mimic rather than what a Japanese-English dictionary says they mean.Some adverbial ideophones are extremely specific, as they mimic a certain action, and thus can only be used in a handful of ways associated with the action they mimic. For example:Sometimes an ideophonic adverb in a phrase sounds kind of redundant for some reason. For example:—is a common phrase, but if we break it down we get:With the three words above, you'd think that combining "to hug" with either side should be enough, no?And yet people say, both sides.Psychomimes can be used as adverbs too:In particular, some psychomimes look like they're synonyms with non-ideophononic words, when, in fact, the psychomime has a nuance of how you feel about something, while the non-ideophonic word does not. For example:Another way to think about psychomimes, is that a non-psychomime (like完全に) expresses more objectivity. You're just describing facts, not stating how you feel about them. Whereas a psychomime (likeすっかり) is more subjective, and expresses the feeling of the speaker regarding something.Because of this, in some contexts (e.g. formal, scientific) the usage of psychomimes may be forbidden. After all, they're rather subjective, and lack the objective tone that said contexts require.A rather odd adverbial ideophone isさっぱり, which frequently shows up like this:The above happens because the phenomimemeans "completely" when used in negative sentences. For example:Another use ofis as a psychomime similar toすっきり, used when you were feeling somehow unpleasant, and after doing something you feel better.(for details just go watch, it's tremendously underrated.)Some ideophones can be paired with theと particle to create an adverb.Since some ideophones can be an adverb by itself, so theと particle becomes optional.You can think of theと particle used with ideophones as similar, but different, to its quoting function. If we say, for example:The verb there is言う, "to say," and what precedes theと particle is the quote. But we can also imagine that, instead of a quote, it describes how the action, "to say," was done. Just like an adverb would. So: someone "said," but said how exactly? The "red" word was how it said.Likewise, when we have an non-onomatopoeic ideophone, we can imagine we're quoting an idea, or concept, that's performed while an action is done. For example:A number of non-onomatopoeic mimetic adverbs follow a pattern in which they end inと. Such ideophones seem to have theと embedded into them. It can neither be taken off, nor another one shall be added.A number of mimetic wordsto have been transformed into such adverbs by embedding theと into them. (I say "seem" because I have no proof on the etymology, although the relationship certainly "seems" to be there.)For example, the author of Astro Boy and Black Jack,手塚治虫, had the habit of writing aポーッ non-onomatopoeic sound effect when a characters face reddened (blushed.)Nowadays,ぼーっと is a mimetic adverb for "stupefied." I guess this may be connected to the manga sound effect. Maybe it's not. But maybe it is.Similarly, the mimetic adverbぼやっと, "absentmindedly," could have come from another mimetic,ぼやぼや, "inattentive."And theじ that is sound effect for staring may be related to theじっと adverb that is for staying still.In Japanese, mimetic words can be turned into verbs by attaching to them the auxiliary verbする, "to do."Since ideophones work as adverbs, some dictionaries say we're talking about an adverb modifying the normalする verb, while others say we're talking about a verb taking theauxiliary. Not that it matters, though.With psychomimes, that mimic emotion, it's particularly easy to understand how it works: if a psychomime means a feeling, the psychomime-means "to feel that feeling." For example:Phenomimes can also say how you feel if they're verbs for body-part subjects. For example:With phenomimes, that mimic how things are, adding theverb implies something features that way of being. That is, it looks that way, or is that way, or is being that way. For example:But more importantly, phenomimes can be combined with imperative conjugations to tell people to be or not be in a certain way. Examples:Sometimes, Japanese ideophones are used in portmanteaus, that is, sometimes new words are created from by mixing the ideophones with something else.Some examples related to manga and anime are:It gets a bit weird in Japanese since, as we saw, a bunch of ideophones feature a reduplication pattern: one thing said twice. Above we are mixing half of one thing said twice... half of two... so, one thing... exactly? Does this count as clipping? I don't know.The verbつく, that means "to attach (onto something, someone, etc." is sometimes combined with the psychomimesイライラ, *irritation,* andムカムカ, *anger,* to create:Personally, I think I've heardいらいらする andむかつく more thanむかむかする andいらつく.I'm no expert in linguistics, but here's my understanding of how the making-up of mimetic words works.With an onomatopoeia, the pronunciation of the word attempts to be more or less the sound it represents.For example, if you hit your hand against a wall to flirt with someone, what sound does it make? According to Japanese, it'sドン. In English, it could be "thud." Or "thump." These are all onomatopoeia. Pretty simple.With non-onomatopoeic mimetic words, you aren't mimicking the sound you hear. You're trying to evoke the idea of something with the pronunciation of a word. Now there's a couple of things we need to clarify.First off, if you look up on a dictionary, you might seeぴかぴか means "sparkling" or some other noun or adverb. Sparkling is a word. Duh. It names a thing. Just like "car,"車, are both words that name things.So, what's the difference betweenand car? This might sound like an odd question but think for a moment: you hear the word "car," you think of car. Is that not "evoking" the idea of cars? Was car an ideophone all along?!?! Are we making a major breakthrough discovery about linguistics here?!?!?!?!Well, no.It isn't that the word makes you think of an idea. It's that theof the word makes you think of an idea. Not simply how it's pronounced, but theFor example,ぴかぴか being "sparkle-sparkle," something that's about emitting light, not sound, isn't heard, it's seen. So is your brain going crazy by associating one thing with the other? Do you look at sparkles and start getting auditory hallucinations ofIt's the opposite.A sparkle is like a beep. And a beep is a sound. You can hear a beep.You know what a beep sounds like?It's a short, small, weak burst, "bee-," that ends in an abrupt stop, "-p". Beep.You know what has a similar phonological structure to the English "beep"? The JapaneseA sparkle is a short, small, weak burst,, that ends in an abrupt stop,So ideophones are not baseless words made up of randomly selected syllables. They're based on sounds your brain already knows, from similar things thatemit sound. With this pre-loaded knowledge, you make up ideophones for stuff that doesemit sound.Another example:かさかさ andかすかす both have meanings related to dryness. Could that be because when you pronounce those words, what you do with mouth resembles the feeling of being thirsty, with a parched throat, because of all those s's? Maybe. Maybe not. I'm just guessing here. But if someone asked me what I think when I say those words, this is what I think. This is the idea I get.This process of associating ideas and senses (what you hear, see, smell, etc.) is called ideasthesia, by the way, so I suppose the creation of ideophones, mimetic words, would then be one kind of ideasthesia. Here's a video that explains what that is in further detail in case you're curious.In Japanese, ideophonic words generally fall into three patterns, though you've probably realize this already given we're already at the end of the article. They are:Besides the above, they've also got some weird features related to spelling and pronunciation that's not found in other, non-ideophonic words.The first pattern, reduplication, is featured by plenty of Japanese onomatopoeia, as well as psychomimes and phenomimes. Generally speaking, the reduplication implies it's some ongoing thing, that repeats indefinitely.For example,, excitement,, white noise,, sparkling, can simply go on. You stay excited?. It keeps raining?. Sparkles be sparkling?. Etc.Note that reduplication is by no means a Japanese-only thing. English has it too. Words like tick-tock, ding-dong, zig-zag are examples of ablaut reduplication.Plenty of mimetic words are reduplicated in their prescriptive forms, which implies an ongoing action. Sometimes, they're dereduplicated to express an action that isn't ongoing.In other words, you'll find in dictionaries the mimetic wordドキドキ as thumping in its continuous form, but sometimes a singleis used when you have just one thump.Likewise,ニコニコ is smiling in its continuous form, whereas the dereduplicated singlerepresents a lone instance of non-continuous smiling, i.e.: a single smile.Strangely, rendaku 連濁 , the process of accenting the pronunciation of the first syllable of a latter morpheme with a dakuten ゛ , doesn't happen ideophones featuring reduplication.Reduplicating神, "god," gets you the plural , "gods," 々 . Note theか turned into aが with. This isThat wasn't an ideophone. Because this effect isn't seen in ideophones. Like, you have——and none of them add the accent.The second pattern,り endings, implies kinda how something feels. You'll see that their usage as phenomimes are all about how you experience an aspect of something.It feels slow and calm for you? It's. It feels discernible? It's. It feels plenty? It'sAll these things are not your own emotions (psychomime) just your opinion about things look. Although some psychomimes can end inり, likeうんざり, annoyance.Since onomatopoeia mimic attempts to sounds, when they end withorit's simply a coincidence. They don't "follow" these semantic patterns.Finally, ideophones that end withと. Now, I don't have any proof. But it very well looks like that's supposed to be theと particle there, it simply got embedded into the word.After all, sayingぼーっ andきちん don't mean much. It's only when you sayぼーっと andきちんと that you have a recognizable word.For this reason, ideophones that end withと are practically the same thing as otherと adverbs. You can't remove theと, else it doesn't make sense. And you can't add aと particle to them (), as effectively there's already one there and two of them doesn't make sense.This is mostly seen in onomatopoeia: a number of mimetic words end in a small tsu っ . This effect is purely phonetic, and usually represents a sharper stop.Example:ぎゃっ！, "eek!" (what does this "k" at the end of "eek" do?)Besides the above, sometimes mimetic words are prolonged to give the impression of continuity. This is usually done by adding a bunch of this symbol: ー, the prolonged sound mark , that makes vowels longer in Japanese.Mimetic words are an exception to a certain rule of the ー symbol: normally, you don't write it in, only inFor example, if you wrote時計, "clock", in, it'd beとけい. Thiscontains a long vowel. So if it were written in katakana instead, it'd becomeトケー. Similarly,ケーキ, "cake," would probably becomeけいき if written inHowever, mimetic words usually feature the ー symbol in theirforms. For example:ぼーっと,にゃー,ざーざー, and so on.Some ideophones seem to be like greater and lesser versions of other ideophones, meaning one ideophone represents a stronger effect than the other. This is particularly true for onomatopoeia and phenomimes.For example:はた,ばた, andぱた are three slightly different ideophones that can mean *flap.* You can imagineas being for laundry flapping because of the wind, whilebeing for some large bird's flapping wing.(note: there's a bunch of similar ideophones that are totally unrelated also. Don't go around thinking just because they sound similar they mean similar things every time.)Mimetic words that containん seem to have a stronger effect, because they're pronounced longer.For example,ゴロゴロ is a thundering sound, synonymous with, but weaker than, the longerゴロンゴロン.Another example:ぱたんぱたん is an accented, reduplicated, and buffed up version of our original level-1はた, and would be much closer to slamming something repeatedly than our initial light flapping.For reference, places where you can find lists of mimetic words, ononatopoeia, ideophones, etc.Resources in English-Japanese:Resources in Japanese-English:Resources in Japanese-Japanese: