Question
I’ve been reading manga and watching anime to study Japanese, and I keep running into these doubled-up words like “wakuwaku” and “pekopeko.” My textbook says they’re onomatopoeia, but there seem to be way more than the “buzz” and “splash” type I know from English, and a lot of them don’t even describe sounds. What are Japanese onomatopoeia?
Answer by Professional Japanese Teacher
擬音語・擬態語
Giongo / Gitaigo
Japanese sound words and mimetic words
In English, “onomatopoeia” covers sound words and nothing else, and that narrower definition is what trips up almost every learner. Japanese has two families of these words. 擬音語 giongo are sound words, like English “buzz” or “splash”: wanwan (a dog barking) or zaazaa (heavy rain pouring down).
擬態語 gitaigo are the family English doesn’t really have. They mimic feelings, states, and the manner of an action, none of which actually make a sound. Wakuwaku means excited, pekopeko means hungry, kirakira means sparkling. They paint a picture rather than a noise.
You’ll hear both kinds everywhere — daily chats, news, even office talk — so they’re not childish or slang. Manga and anime lean on them heavily because one short word does the work of a whole descriptive sentence.