From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishonomatopoeiaon‧o‧mat‧o‧poe‧ia /ˌɒnəmætəˈpiːə $ ˌɑːn-/ noun [uncountable] technical SLthe use of words that sound like the thing that they are describing, for example ‘hiss’ or ‘boom’ —onomatopoeic adjective
Examples from the Corpus
onomatopoeia• The phonetic sequences involved in either onomatopoeia or sound symbolism are clearly not to be considered semantic constituents.• This phenomenon is distinct from onomatopoeia - it is sometimes called sound symbolism: there is no question of auditory resemblance.Origin onomatopoeia (1500-1600) Late Latin Greek onomatopoiia, from onoma “name” + poiein “to make” 