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) [...]

ズルズル 　 -Tifa to a dilly-dallying Cloud in Final Fantasy: Advent Children. ずるずる can also written as づるづる though the former is more common. It shares an English phenotypic counterpart: to dilly-dally, as in to drag or waste time, especially in indecision. It can also mean to drag or to trail down a slope. Let’s [...]

Hyu Hyu Breathing or sighing with a husky, whistling sound is marked by a ひゅうひゅう in Japanese. The sound of the wind, too, can be described with ひゅうひゅう or ひゅうひゅうする. We witness a common example all the time in many countries outside of Japan, where men will frequently give the “wolf whistle” at beautiful, attractive [...]

Chira Chira ちらちら is phenomimic and refers to something as fluttering, intermittent, or flickering. Imagine cherry blossom season, and you’re sitting under warm うらうら (read: clear, breezy) weather drinking Suntory beer with your best friends. Cherry blossom leaves are falling in a ちらちら way. Rain and snow can also be described as falling in a [...]

Botsu Botsu If you have had a zit-outbreak, chicken pox, or any sort of bumpy outbreak, your skin wasぼつぼつ. The phenomimic term is used to describe anything that is bumpy in texture. For example, outbreaks on skin of humans or animals, and bumpy textures on inanimate objects like car and bicycle tires, can all be [...]

Fuwa Fuwa “ふわふわだね！” is a phrase that you’ll hear most often from Japanese women when, say, describing their friend’s new mobile phone strap or new stuffed animal toy. ふわふわ literally means soft or soft in touch or feel. Quite often it can be used to describe food and will often find a place in the [...]