Onomatopoeia
Learning English Vocabulary
BBC
4.5 • 523 Ratings
🗓️ 29 December 2025
⏱️ 7 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Learn about words that sound like the thing they describe.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Have you signed up to our Learning English newsletter yet? |
| 0:09.0 | Get weekly updates about our latest programmes, tips for learning and quizzes, all from our BBC Learning English presenters. |
| 0:18.0 | Follow the link in the notes for this episode to sign up. |
| 0:21.5 | This is a download from BBC Learning English. To find out more, visit our website. |
| 0:27.8 | Six Minutes vocabulary. From BBC LearningEnglish.com. |
| 0:34.0 | Hi, I'm Rob. And I'm Catherine. Welcome to six-minute vocabulary. |
| 0:40.9 | Our subject for today is Onomatopoeia. |
| 0:44.8 | That means words that sound like the thing they mean. |
| 0:48.3 | And Catherine and I will be trying to demonstrate some of these words today. |
| 0:52.6 | Yes, like the sound that most people's phones make when they get text messages. |
| 0:57.0 | We call that sound a beep. |
| 0:58.6 | Beep. |
| 0:59.2 | That's it, Rob. Yeah. |
| 1:01.0 | That's Onomatopoeia. |
| 1:02.9 | The word sounds like the thing it means, beep. |
| 1:06.7 | Beep, beep, yes. |
| 1:08.0 | Have I got a message? |
| 1:09.7 | Right, okay, there are lots of examples of Onomatopoeia in the English language, |
| 1:13.6 | and we'll take a look at some of them on today's show. |
| 1:18.2 | So let's start with a clip of Oliver, and he's talking about living in the city. |
| 1:24.2 | While you listen, try to answer this question. How does Oliver feel about city life? |
| 1:30.3 | It's too noisy for me. All the cars zooming around and honking their horns, music blaring in shops, |
... |
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