Onomatopoeia
Figures of speechA word whose sound imitates or suggests the noise it names.
Example
Tick-tock. In the empty office, the clock seemed to be talking to itself.
Onomatopoeia uses the sound of a word to evoke a noise, such as an impact, animal call or mechanical sound. It can stand alone or function as an ordinary part of a sentence.
Different languages represent the same sounds differently. In prose, the choice also affects register and pacing: a playful sound effect may feel different from a restrained description of the noise.
In the workshop
Read the full sentence aloud to check the sound effect fits its tone.
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