I’ve written about onomatopoeia in the past, but focused mainly on animal and ‘thing’-related sounds. Today we are going to look at some of the sounds that humans make and how they are spelled. First of all take a look at this great infographic from Grammar.net and all the examples it has of onomatopoeia. (Remember: onomatopoeia is a word that imitates a natural sound.)

Image from http://www.grammar.net/hi-res.

There are three examples of human sounds in the picture above: giggle, gurgle, and hiccup, but there are so many more examples of human-made onomatopoeia I want to share with you. Below is a more extensive list.

Sounds humans make and how to write these sounds as words:

achoo (or atchoo) – the sound of sneezing
ah (or ahhhhhhhhhh) – a sound that expresses relief or relaxation
aha – the sound we make when we discover something (Example: Aha, there are my keys!)
arg – a sound used to express upset or pain
bah – this is used to express contempt, disdain or severe upset
boo –  a sound made when startling someone or trying to surprise them
burr – the sound a person makes to indicate he or she is cold
chomp – the sound of taking a bite
crunch – the sound made when eating crunchy food like crackers or chips; also the sound of footsteps on hard stones like gravel
d’oh – a sound made when someone suddenly realizes they have made a foolish mistake; Homer Simpson is famous for making this sound, you can hear him do this here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlL6cQAzLdE

eek – the sound a person makes when he or she is scared; this sound is often made when someone is scared by something small like a mouse, not when being scared by something big like a bear
glug – the sound of swallowing a lot of liquid quickly
ha-ha – the sound of laughter
humpf (or humph) – an expression of stubbornness, doubt, or contempt
hooray (or hurrah) – an exclamation of joy
huh – a sound that expresses confusion; this sound is usually made to invite someone to respond or provide more information
ooh – an expression of amazement, wonder, or understanding
phew – a sound related to fatigue or being tired
shoo – a sound made when trying to drive something (usually an animal) away (Exmpale: Shoo, shoo, get out of here.)
sniff – the sound of smelling
ta-da (or ta-dah) – a sound that means ‘here it is’ or ‘all done look at this’; this sound is usually made after completing something
uggh – an exclamation of frustration and annoyance
uh-huh – a sound that is used to indicate agreement
uh-oh – an expression of concern or dismay that something unexpected just happened
wahoo – an exclamation of joy and enthusiasm
yikes – an expression that indicates shock and usually has a negative connotation
yippee – a sound made to indicate delight (Example: Yippee, I just learned a lot of new English words!)