めろめろ This is an onomatopoeia that you’ll want to use around valentines and/or when heavily drunk. Hopefully the former is used more than the latter. めろめろ characterizes the phenomimic states of being madly in love and falling down drunk. It should come to no surprise that the two seemingly different states share a similar description. [...]

ばきばき BakiBaki A personal favorite though not so commonly used is the phonomime ばきばき. Often written in its katakana form, it describes any sound similar to cracking branches or the cracking of one’s knuckles. The sound of some electro DJ’s, for instance Justice, Boys Noize, and Daft Punk can be characterized as ばきばき. On Yahoo! [...]

ごろごろ is a great common word with many styles of usages. It can be onomatopoeic sound for thunder, purring, or the grumbling of a stomach. It may also refer to a large and heavy object starting to roll, like a big snowball rolling down a mountain, or the big rolling stone from Indiana Jones, or [...]

さくさく is a very functional term and enjoys wide usage that dates back to the Edo period. Generally, it is used to refer to a crisp or crunch sound. Sometimes, it can phenotypically refer to acting quickly. Let’s look at the standard definitions as well as examples: The sound of walking on snow, sand, or [...]

There are two general meanings attached to the phrase かさかさ： A dry object, such as dry autumn leaves, giving off a rustling sound (phonomimic) Parched, unsmooth, or lacking moisture, such as a dry lips. (phenomimic)   Both the phono- and phenomimic cases, the term can be used as a Na-adjective, suru­ verb, or as an [...]

ちゃらちゃら CharaChara If you walk around Shinjuku or Roppongi at night, or maybe just anywhere in Japan, you’ll see quite a few people if not everyone that are ちゃらちゃら している. This phenomimic phrase is used to mean one of three things: 1) Messing around 2) Showing off 3) Noise of clashing objects (i.e., keys, coins) [...]