Intro: ちくちく
This is the first in our series of lessons on onomatopoeic Japanese.
In case you don't already know, "onomatopoeia" is "the creation of words that imitate natural sounds" (Learner's Dictionary).
For example:
- "The cat hissed at me."
- "A bee was buzzing around my head."
Words like "hiss" and "buzz" are onomatopoeic because they imitate the sound being described.
Onomatopoeic words are used in Japanese much, much, much more often than they are used in English.
Types of Japanese Sound Symbolism
If we want to get fancy, we can actually separate the different types of onomatopoeia in Japanese, which are:
- 擬声語（ぎせいご // animate phonomime [i.e. words mimicking sounds of living things]）
- 擬音語（ぎおんご // inanimate phonomime [i.e. words mimicking sounds of non-living things]）
- 擬態語（ぎたいご // phenomeme [i.e. words depicting states, conditions, manners, etc.]）
- 擬情語（ぎじょうご // psychomime [i.e. words depicting psychological states or bodily feelings]）
Two Important Words
I doubt that you'll hear people referring to all of the different categories of Japanese sound symbolism mentioned above.
You're most likely to hear only:
1) 擬音語 (ぎおんご), which can be thought of as "onomatopoeic words that mimic sounds."
2) 擬態語 (ぎたいご), which can be thought of as "words that depict actions, conditions, manners, feelings, etc. (i.e. things that don't make sounds).
An example of 擬音語, then, would be ワンワン, which is the sound of a dog barking. It equates to something like "rough," "bark," "woof," etc.
An example of 擬態語, on the other hand, would be チクチク, which is used when describing a "prickling," "stinging," or "tingling" sensation. I'll talk about チクチク more in a minute.
If we want to get technical, we would say that only 擬音語 qualify as "onomatopoeia" because they imitate actual sounds. For this reason, you'll sometimes see 擬態語 classified as "mimetic words" or "mimesis." For the sake of simplicity, we'll be using the word "onomatopoeia" as a blanket term throughout these lessons.
I always find myself getting confused about whether a word is 擬音語 or 擬態語. I guess I'm just not used to making this distinction. In any case, it doesn't really matter all that much if you don't remember which is which. Just learn as many examples of each as you can!
Speaking of which...
Learning Japanese Onomatopoeia
...has always been difficult for me.
Onomatopoeic words are unfortunately not represented in written Japanese nearly as often as you'll encounter them in spoken Japanese. One exception to this might be manga, which tends to feature quite a lot of onomatopoeia.
Years back, I noticed that my onomatopoeia skills were lacking, and I bought some books on the topic.
Reading those books, I came across another problem: I kept forgetting the words I was studying.
Even when I made flashcards, they all seemed to get mixed up in my head.
Looking back, I think that I was trying to learn too many Japanese onomatopoeia at once. In the end, the ones that stuck were the ones that I heard used by Japanese people in the real world.
I suspect that this is because 擬音語 and 擬態語 are often very difficult to translate into English words. What you really need is the context in which they are used so that you can get a feel for their meaning and usage.
Accordingly, we're only going to be looking at one example of 擬音語 or 擬態語 for each of our lessons. This will allow us to drill the target words into our brains, and give us some space to explain the context in which our example sentences might appear.
Sound good?
I hope so, because we're about to dive in...
ちくちく
prickling; stinging; tingling
Here's a Japanese definition, along with a (loose) translation of what it means:
針などを浅く、繰り返し突き刺すさま。また、そのような痛みを断続的に感じるさま。
はり など を あさく、 くりかえし つきさす さま。 また、 その ような いたみ を だんぞくてき に かんじる さま。
the state of being lightly pricked with a needle repeatedly; feeling an intermittent pain of that type
Literally: “needle + and the like + を + shallowly, + repeatedly + stab / pierce + state / condition. + also, + that kind of + pain + を + intermittently + feel + state / condition.”
Source: goo辞書
I'll never forget this word because it was said to me by a doctor in Japan just before she removed a bunch of stitches from my face!
She asked me to lie back, then said something along the lines of:
ちょっとチクチクしますよー。
ちょっと チクチク します よー。
This is gonna sting a little.
Literally: “a little bit + prickling / stinging + does + よー.”
I then learned firsthand exactly what kind of sensation チクチク describes. It is a stinging or prickling feeling, but not especially painful, per se.
A Note on Writing Onomatopoeic Words
Whenever we introduce a word, we'll first write it in hiragana.
That's why we first wrote ちくちく above.
In the example sentences, however, we'll write the word in question however the native sentence writer (usually, Rei) would personally choose to write the word in the particular sentence in which it is appearing.
Sometimes the words will be in hiragana. Sometimes they'll be in katakana. Often this differs based on one's personal preference. I wouldn't worry too much about why we're using one over the other. As with most of the subtler aspects of Japanese, let's just copy what the native speakers are doing and not ask too many difficult questions... yet... ^_^
I mentioned above that チクチク does not necessarily describe a painful "stinging" or "prickling" sensation.
Look at the following sentence, more example:
このセーター、チクチクする。
この セーター、 チクチク する。
This sweater is all prickly.
Literally: “this + sweater, + prickling + does.”
I went back and forth as to whether I should include the translation "This sweater is all itchy" for the above sentence. After all, I personally wouldn't be likely to ever describe a sweater as "prickly." Even if it was "itchy" or "uncomfortable" almost to the point of hurting, I still don't know if "prickly" is the word I would choose.
This seems to happen whenever I want to translate 擬音語 and 擬態語. I find myself at a loss of words. Part of this has to do with the fact that 擬音語 and 擬態語 are often used in situations where there is simply no good English equivalent.
Although I said that チクチク is not used to described things that are particularly painful, that's not 100% true.
If it pairs up with a word describing "pain," then really it's just clarifying the category of pain being experienced.
An example:
胃がチクチク痛い。
い が チクチク いたい。
I have tingling pains in my stomach.
Literally: “stomach + が + prickling / stinging + hurts / painful.”
Ah, 擬態語 are hard to translate!
LEVEL UP: Modifying Onomatopoeia
A lot of Japanese onomatopoeia contain repeated sound combinations.
For example, it's not just ワン. It's ワンワン. It's not just チク. It's チクチク.
Repeated sound combos add the nuance that a certain action, sensation, etc. is occurring repeatedly.
So, a single bark by a dog is ワン. But the ongoing or repeated barking of a dog is ワンワン.
That's why the definition that we saw earlier for チクチク said:
針などを浅く、繰り返し突き刺すさま。また、そのような痛みを断続的に感じるさま。
はり など を あさく、 くりかえし つきさす さま。 また、 その ような いたみ を だんぞくてき に かんじる さま。
the state of being lightly pricked with a needle repeatedly; feeling an intermittent pain of that type
Literally: “needle + and the like + を + shallowly, + repeatedly + stab / pierce + state / condition. + also, + that kind of + pain + を + intermittently + feel + state / condition.”
Source: goo辞書
We don't always have to use the repeated sound combos for an onomatopoeic word.
For example, チクチク can become チク. Conversely, in a manga, you might see something like チクチクチク.
When we are not repeating the sound チク, it can be inferred that we are describing a one-time sensation. It's not "prickling," "tingling," or "stinging." It's a single prick. A single stabbing feeling.
So, when I got my stitches out, the doctor said:
ちょっとチクチクしますよー。
ちょっと チクチク します よー。
This is gonna sting a little.
Literally: “a little bit + prickling / stinging + does + よー.”
If my doctor were about to give me an injection, however (a one-time prick), she might have said:
ちょっとチクッとしますよー。
ちょっと チクッ と します よー。
This is gonna sting a little.
Literally: “a little bit + pricking / stinging + と + does + よー.”
As you can see in the example above, onomatopoeic words may occasionally be followed by a small tsu (ッ), which makes the ending sound a bit abrupt.
Onomatopoeic words are also commonly followed by the particle と.
You may have noticed that the two sentences we just looked at had identical English translations:
ちょっとチクチクしますよー。
ちょっと チクチク します よー。
This is gonna sting a little.
Literally: “a little bit + prickling / stinging + does + よー.”
ちょっとチクッとしますよー。
ちょっと チクッ と します よー。
This is gonna sting a little.
Literally: “a little bit + pricking / stinging + と + does + よー.”
In other words, the nuance of チクチク being a repeated sensation, and チク being a singular sensation, is lost in translation.
You'll find that 擬音語 and 擬態語 love getting lost in translation.
Maybe that's why books aren't very good at teaching them? I'm not sure.
Here's one last example using チクッと, and then we'll be finished:
変な虫にチクッと刺された。
へんな むし に チクッ と さされた。
I got stung by a weird bug.
Literally: “strange / weird + bug + に + pricking / stinging + と + was stung / was stabbed.”
As you can see in the above sentence, there isn't really any word in our English sentence that corresponds to the チクッと in our Japanese example.
Tricky stuff.
Done!
What did you think?
I hope that these lessons help you in your journey to spoken fluency. It's rare to come across a student of Japanese that can smoothly spit out 擬音語 and 擬態語 as they speak. With these lessons, hopefully we all become the rare exceptions.
Complete and Continue
In case you don't already know, "onomatopoeia" is "the creation of words that imitate natural sounds" (Learner's Dictionary).
For example:
- "The cat hissed at me."
- "A bee was buzzing around my head."
Words like "hiss" and "buzz" are onomatopoeic because they imitate the sound being described.
Onomatopoeic words are used in Japanese much, much, much more often than they are used in English.
Types of Japanese Sound Symbolism
If we want to get fancy, we can actually separate the different types of onomatopoeia in Japanese, which are:
- 擬声語（ぎせいご // animate phonomime [i.e. words mimicking sounds of living things]）
- 擬音語（ぎおんご // inanimate phonomime [i.e. words mimicking sounds of non-living things]）
- 擬態語（ぎたいご // phenomeme [i.e. words depicting states, conditions, manners, etc.]）
- 擬情語（ぎじょうご // psychomime [i.e. words depicting psychological states or bodily feelings]）
Two Important Words
I doubt that you'll hear people referring to all of the different categories of Japanese sound symbolism mentioned above.
You're most likely to hear only:
1) 擬音語 (ぎおんご), which can be thought of as "onomatopoeic words that mimic sounds."
2) 擬態語 (ぎたいご), which can be thought of as "words that depict actions, conditions, manners, feelings, etc. (i.e. things that don't make sounds).
An example of 擬音語, then, would be ワンワン, which is the sound of a dog barking. It equates to something like "rough," "bark," "woof," etc.
An example of 擬態語, on the other hand, would be チクチク, which is used when describing a "prickling," "stinging," or "tingling" sensation. I'll talk about チクチク more in a minute.
If we want to get technical, we would say that only 擬音語 qualify as "onomatopoeia" because they imitate actual sounds. For this reason, you'll sometimes see 擬態語 classified as "mimetic words" or "mimesis." For the sake of simplicity, we'll be using the word "onomatopoeia" as a blanket term throughout these lessons.
I always find myself getting confused about whether a word is 擬音語 or 擬態語. I guess I'm just not used to making this distinction. In any case, it doesn't really matter all that much if you don't remember which is which. Just learn as many examples of each as you can!
Speaking of which...
Learning Japanese Onomatopoeia
...has always been difficult for me.
Onomatopoeic words are unfortunately not represented in written Japanese nearly as often as you'll encounter them in spoken Japanese. One exception to this might be manga, which tends to feature quite a lot of onomatopoeia.
Years back, I noticed that my onomatopoeia skills were lacking, and I bought some books on the topic.
Reading those books, I came across another problem: I kept forgetting the words I was studying.
Even when I made flashcards, they all seemed to get mixed up in my head.
Looking back, I think that I was trying to learn too many Japanese onomatopoeia at once. In the end, the ones that stuck were the ones that I heard used by Japanese people in the real world.
I suspect that this is because 擬音語 and 擬態語 are often very difficult to translate into English words. What you really need is the context in which they are used so that you can get a feel for their meaning and usage.
Accordingly, we're only going to be looking at one example of 擬音語 or 擬態語 for each of our lessons. This will allow us to drill the target words into our brains, and give us some space to explain the context in which our example sentences might appear.
Sound good?
I hope so, because we're about to dive in...
ちくちく
prickling; stinging; tingling
Here's a Japanese definition, along with a (loose) translation of what it means:
針などを浅く、繰り返し突き刺すさま。また、そのような痛みを断続的に感じるさま。
はり など を あさく、 くりかえし つきさす さま。 また、 その ような いたみ を だんぞくてき に かんじる さま。
the state of being lightly pricked with a needle repeatedly; feeling an intermittent pain of that type
Literally: “needle + and the like + を + shallowly, + repeatedly + stab / pierce + state / condition. + also, + that kind of + pain + を + intermittently + feel + state / condition.”
Source: goo辞書
I'll never forget this word because it was said to me by a doctor in Japan just before she removed a bunch of stitches from my face!
She asked me to lie back, then said something along the lines of:
ちょっとチクチクしますよー。
ちょっと チクチク します よー。
This is gonna sting a little.
Literally: “a little bit + prickling / stinging + does + よー.”
I then learned firsthand exactly what kind of sensation チクチク describes. It is a stinging or prickling feeling, but not especially painful, per se.
A Note on Writing Onomatopoeic Words
Whenever we introduce a word, we'll first write it in hiragana.
That's why we first wrote ちくちく above.
In the example sentences, however, we'll write the word in question however the native sentence writer (usually, Rei) would personally choose to write the word in the particular sentence in which it is appearing.
Sometimes the words will be in hiragana. Sometimes they'll be in katakana. Often this differs based on one's personal preference. I wouldn't worry too much about why we're using one over the other. As with most of the subtler aspects of Japanese, let's just copy what the native speakers are doing and not ask too many difficult questions... yet... ^_^
I mentioned above that チクチク does not necessarily describe a painful "stinging" or "prickling" sensation.
Look at the following sentence, more example:
このセーター、チクチクする。
この セーター、 チクチク する。
This sweater is all prickly.
Literally: “this + sweater, + prickling + does.”
I went back and forth as to whether I should include the translation "This sweater is all itchy" for the above sentence. After all, I personally wouldn't be likely to ever describe a sweater as "prickly." Even if it was "itchy" or "uncomfortable" almost to the point of hurting, I still don't know if "prickly" is the word I would choose.
This seems to happen whenever I want to translate 擬音語 and 擬態語. I find myself at a loss of words. Part of this has to do with the fact that 擬音語 and 擬態語 are often used in situations where there is simply no good English equivalent.
Although I said that チクチク is not used to described things that are particularly painful, that's not 100% true.
If it pairs up with a word describing "pain," then really it's just clarifying the category of pain being experienced.
An example:
胃がチクチク痛い。
い が チクチク いたい。
I have tingling pains in my stomach.
Literally: “stomach + が + prickling / stinging + hurts / painful.”
Ah, 擬態語 are hard to translate!
LEVEL UP: Modifying Onomatopoeia
A lot of Japanese onomatopoeia contain repeated sound combinations.
For example, it's not just ワン. It's ワンワン. It's not just チク. It's チクチク.
Repeated sound combos add the nuance that a certain action, sensation, etc. is occurring repeatedly.
So, a single bark by a dog is ワン. But the ongoing or repeated barking of a dog is ワンワン.
That's why the definition that we saw earlier for チクチク said:
針などを浅く、繰り返し突き刺すさま。また、そのような痛みを断続的に感じるさま。
はり など を あさく、 くりかえし つきさす さま。 また、 その ような いたみ を だんぞくてき に かんじる さま。
the state of being lightly pricked with a needle repeatedly; feeling an intermittent pain of that type
Literally: “needle + and the like + を + shallowly, + repeatedly + stab / pierce + state / condition. + also, + that kind of + pain + を + intermittently + feel + state / condition.”
Source: goo辞書
We don't always have to use the repeated sound combos for an onomatopoeic word.
For example, チクチク can become チク. Conversely, in a manga, you might see something like チクチクチク.
When we are not repeating the sound チク, it can be inferred that we are describing a one-time sensation. It's not "prickling," "tingling," or "stinging." It's a single prick. A single stabbing feeling.
So, when I got my stitches out, the doctor said:
ちょっとチクチクしますよー。
ちょっと チクチク します よー。
This is gonna sting a little.
Literally: “a little bit + prickling / stinging + does + よー.”
If my doctor were about to give me an injection, however (a one-time prick), she might have said:
ちょっとチクッとしますよー。
ちょっと チクッ と します よー。
This is gonna sting a little.
Literally: “a little bit + pricking / stinging + と + does + よー.”
As you can see in the example above, onomatopoeic words may occasionally be followed by a small tsu (ッ), which makes the ending sound a bit abrupt.
Onomatopoeic words are also commonly followed by the particle と.
You may have noticed that the two sentences we just looked at had identical English translations:
ちょっとチクチクしますよー。
ちょっと チクチク します よー。
This is gonna sting a little.
Literally: “a little bit + prickling / stinging + does + よー.”
ちょっとチクッとしますよー。
ちょっと チクッ と します よー。
This is gonna sting a little.
Literally: “a little bit + pricking / stinging + と + does + よー.”
In other words, the nuance of チクチク being a repeated sensation, and チク being a singular sensation, is lost in translation.
You'll find that 擬音語 and 擬態語 love getting lost in translation.
Maybe that's why books aren't very good at teaching them? I'm not sure.
Here's one last example using チクッと, and then we'll be finished:
変な虫にチクッと刺された。
へんな むし に チクッ と さされた。
I got stung by a weird bug.
Literally: “strange / weird + bug + に + pricking / stinging + と + was stung / was stabbed.”
As you can see in the above sentence, there isn't really any word in our English sentence that corresponds to the チクッと in our Japanese example.
Tricky stuff.
Done!
What did you think?
I hope that these lessons help you in your journey to spoken fluency. It's rare to come across a student of Japanese that can smoothly spit out 擬音語 and 擬態語 as they speak. With these lessons, hopefully we all become the rare exceptions.
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