Onomatopoeia: What Does the Cock Say?

The Japanese word kokekokko is the sound typical of the cock and belongs to the category of ‘onomatopoeia’. In fact, expressions like these mimic different kinds of sounds – onomatopoeia are not a Japanese uniqueness. Take ‘boom’ for example – an expression found especially often in comics.

Onomatopoeia can be divided into 3 groups:
1) giseigo 擬声語 = expressions of sounds from animals and humans
2) giongo 擬音語 = expressions of sounds from things
3) gitaigo 擬態語 = expressions for movement and state of things

Written by Jannick Scherrer