Cock-a-doodle-doo

Onomatopoeic words are words that mimic a sound made by something such as an animal call or a door slam. It's funny to me how certain onomatopoeic words for the exact same sound differ in other languages. We all hear the same sound, but the conditioning from our native language sounds causes us to render differently from one another.

Take for instance, the very common rendering of the well-known rooster call. In English, it's cock-a-doodle-doo. Now take a look at the same sound in several other language samples taken from many different language families...

Spanish: quiquiriquí or cocoricó
French: cocorico
Italian: chicchirichi
Norwegian: kykkeliky
Dutch: kukeleku
German: kikeriki
Russian: koo-ka-re-koo
Polish: kukuryku
Nepali: frootti tootti tu
Hindi: ku-kudu-koo
Hungarian: kukurikú
Estonian: kikerikii
Basque: kukurruku
Korean: gugugugu
Japanese: kokekokko
Mandarin: o o o
Thai: aek ee aek aek
Sinhalese: fuku fuk fu
Tamil: kokkara-ko-ko
Indonesian: kukuruyuk
Tagalog: tiktilaok
Turkish: ü-ürü-üüü
Hebrew: kúkuríku
Arabic: kuku-kookoo

Now, one can see the similarities between closely related languages, but when you look at others, you wonder if they are hearing the same sound as you! Language is funny that way!

I will leave you with a few more examples of this strange reality. See if you can "hear" how the other languages came to their own word.

Balloon bursting
Arabic: boof
German: peng
Hindi: thaa
Hungarian: pukk
Indonesian: dor
Korean: bbang
Navajo: dǫǫn
Spanish: pop
Thai: poh
Turkish: bom

Camera shutter
Bulgarian: shtrak
Danish: klik
French: clic
Indonesian: klik
Korean: chalkak
Russian: shcholk
Swedish: klick
Thai: chaeh
Turkish: şlak
Vietnamese: cách cách

Car horn
Czech: tu tu
Dutch: toet toet
German: tut
Hebrew: bip bip
Indonesian: din din
Korean: bbang bbang
Lithuanian: pyp pyp
Spanish: pi pi
Tagalog: peep peep
Thai: pin pin

Cry of pain
Czech: au
French: aïe
German: au
Hebrew: akh
Indonesian: aduh
Japanese: itai
Navajo: ayá
Nepali: bzzt
Portuguese: ai
Russian: oj

Cow lowing
Arabic: moo
Mandarin: mou
Czech: buu
Dutch: boe
Italian: mu
Japanese: mo mo
Korean: eum mae
Tagalog: unga
Tibetan: drip drip dröep
Vietnamese: ò ò

Kiss
Arabic: mwa
Czech: muck
Danish: smæk
Estonian: mopsti
Japanese: chuu
Korean: jjohk
Malayalam: umma
Russian: chmok
Thai: joop
Vietnamese: chut

Pig call
Czech: kvík kvík
Finnish: röh röh
French: groin groin
German: grunz grunz
Indonesian: grok grok
Korean: ggul ggul
Lithuanian: kvy kvy
Portuguese: ronc ronc
Tagalog: ngok ngok
Thai: ud ud

Sneeze
Bengali: hach-chu
Catalan: atxum
Cantonese: hat-chi
Mandarin: ah-ti
Dutch: hatsjoe
Hebrew: apchi
Japanese: hakushon
Romanian: hapciu
Tagalog: atsing
Thai: hud-chei