{"id":24455,"date":"2026-01-28T19:56:03","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T19:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=24455"},"modified":"2026-01-28T19:56:03","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T19:56:03","slug":"ideophones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=24455","title":{"rendered":"Ideophones"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What does the word <em>tututu<\/em> make you think of? <\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/catzrule\/54914643984\/in\/photolist-2rQQFk5-2rJfco2-2rNW6C3-2rNW6Cd-2rNQF3A-2rNW6Fe-2rNWz5y-2rxN1dE-2rEBUsC-2rptuiB-2rtPgz8-2rk3VNv-2rh9ktL-2rgQd2b-2rgXfbP-2rQVdtA-2rQVduc-2qZsMJL-2r4C9yB-2r7vMUW-2qTQC1U-2rS8Kde-2qPS2Eh-2qAeyra-2qyuUrR-2qbrp2Q-2qbx77S-2qbGEsc-2qcjeHb-2qcp27J-2qd33FW-2qbMhar-2ryBELr-2qhk9bj-2q9jR47-2q9n8MY-2q9mCiS-2q9n8Gs-2rrX3gY-2rzGbgZ-2riG6BL-2riA9Jg-2riAa9p-2rnQgsB-2rrVMRL-2rnQfcL-2rk4tkc-2rncxXC-2pZAmqU-2q4e3nc\" title=\"Zaanse Schans windmill gears\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54914643984_974bddd43d_z.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" alt=\"Zaanse Schans windmill gears\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s an <strong>ideophone<\/strong> from Bebe (Naami) a language spoken in parts of Cameroon, and to a speaker of Bebe, <em>tututu<\/em> suggests the sound of a grinding mill. <\/p>\n<p>Other ideophones in Bebe include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>kpa\u014bkpa\u014bkpa\u014b<\/strong> = the sound of a bell<\/li>\n<li><strong>gbaaa\u014b<\/strong> = the sound of a door closed with force<\/li>\n<li><strong>waaa<\/strong> = the sound of a running water<\/li>\n<li><strong>\u014bg\u0254\u0254\u0254\u014b<\/strong> = the sound of a lion roaring<\/li>\n<li><strong>\u014baaa\u014b<\/strong> = the sound of a baby crying<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Source: <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sil.org\/resources\/archives\/96817\">Naami Orthography Guide<\/a>, by Grace Tabah and Mkounga Tala Blaise<\/em><\/p>\n<p>You can find out more about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/writing\/bebe.htm\">Bebe<\/a> on Omniglot &#8211; this is a new page I added today, and finding out about the ideophones in this language inspired me to write this post.<\/p>\n<p>An <strong>ideophone<\/strong> is a member of the class of words that depict sensory imagery or sensations, evoking ideas of action, sound, movement, color, or shape. They are also known as <strong>mimetics<\/strong> or <strong>expressives<\/strong>. Unlike <strong>onomatopoeic<\/strong> words, which imitate sounds, <strong>ideophones<\/strong> can also indicate action, state, intensity, smell, colour or manner. They are common in such languages as Japanese, Korean, Tamil, Yoruba and Zulu.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>\u304c\u3076\u304c\u3076<\/strong> (gabugabu) = gulping, guzzling, gulp gulp &#8211; Japanese<\/li>\n<li><strong>\u304d\u3073\u304d\u3073<\/strong> (kibikibi) = briskly &#8211; Japanese<\/li>\n<li><strong>\u3057\u3068\u3057\u3068\u3068\u964d\u308b<\/strong> (shitoshito to furu) = to rain or snow quietly &#8211; Japanese<\/li>\n<li><strong>\uac00\ubb3c\uac00\ubb3c<\/strong> (gamulgamul) = (light) fading away into the distance, moving away faintly, in a blurred manner &#8211; Korean<\/li>\n<li><strong>\ubc84\uae00\ubc84\uae00<\/strong> (beogeulbeogeul) = boilingly while spreading in all directions; bubblingly while spreading in all directions &#8211; Korean<\/li>\n<li><strong>\uaf41\ub0e5\uaf41\ub0e5<\/strong> (kkongnyangkkongnyang) = lovey-dovey &#8211; Korean<\/li>\n<li><strong>\u0baa\u0b9f\u0baa\u0b9f<\/strong> (pa\u1e6dapa\u1e6da) = fluttering &#8211; Tamil<\/li>\n<li><strong>\u0baa\u0bc1\u0b9a\u0bc1\u0baa\u0bc1\u0b9a\u0bc1<\/strong> (pucupucu) = soft and bushy, fluffy &#8211; Tamil<\/li>\n<li><strong>\u0bb5\u0bbf\u0bb1\u0bc1\u0bb5\u0bbf\u0bb1\u0bc1<\/strong> (vi\u1e5fuvi\u1e5fu) = energetically, lively, spicy &#8211; Tamil<\/li>\n<li><strong>khazimula<\/strong> = shining brightly &#8211; Zulu<\/li>\n<li><strong>qaqa<\/strong> = bursting &#8211; Zulu<\/li>\n<li><strong>jabula<\/strong> = happily &#8211; Zulu<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Does your language have ideophones, or anything similar? Do you have any interesting examples?<\/p>\n<p>For more information about <strong>ideophones<\/strong> see: <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\n\/Ideophone\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ideophone<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Category:Korean_ideophones\">https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Category:Korean_ideophones<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Category:Japanese_onomatopoeias\">https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Category:Japanese_onomatopoeias<\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5001128073855040\"\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- Blog horizontal --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\n     style=\"display:block\"\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-5001128073855040\"\n     data-ad-slot=\"1685480124\"\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What does the word tututu make you think of? It&#8217;s an ideophone from Bebe (Naami) a language spoken in parts of Cameroon, and to a speaker of Bebe, tututu suggests the sound of a grinding mill. Other ideophones in Bebe include: kpa\u014bkpa\u014bkpa\u014b = the sound of a bell gbaaa\u014b = the sound of a door [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558,104,129,131,10,266,78,559,83],"tags":[565,164,560,546,564,138,566,281,561,563,163,562],"class_list":["post-24455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bebe-naami","category-english","category-japanese","category-korean","category-language","category-tamil-","category-words-and-phrases","category-yoruba-ede-yoruba","category-zulu-language","tag-bebe","tag-english","tag-ideophones","tag-japanese","tag-korean","tag-language","tag-naami","tag-omniglot","tag-omomatopoea","tag-tamil","tag-words","tag-zulu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24455"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24457,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24455\/revisions\/24457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}