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Onomatopoeia vs Hum - What's the difference?

onomatopoeia | hum |

As nouns the difference between onomatopoeia and hum

is that onomatopoeia is (uncountable) the property of a word of sounding like what it represents while hum is twilight, dusk.

onomatopoeia

English

(wikipedia onomatopoeia)

Alternative forms

* onomatopeia *

Noun

  • (uncountable) The property of a word of sounding like what it represents.
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year= 1553 , year_published= 1909 , author= , (Desiderius Erasmus) , by= , title= Arte of Rhetorique , url= http://books.google.com/books?id=6p0xbOGIz2MC&pg=PA173 , original= , chapter= , section= , isbn= , edition= , publisher= Clarendon Press , location= Oxford , editor= , volume= , page= , passage= A woorde making called of the Grecians Onomatapoia , is when wee make wordes of our owne minde, such as bee derived from the nature of things. }}
  • (countable) A word that sounds like what it represents, such as "gurgle" or "hiss".
  • (uncountable, rhetoric) The use of language whose sound imitates that which it names.

    • Synonyms

    * imitative harmony * mimesis * sound symbolism

    Related terms

    * onomatope * onomatopoeial * onomatopoeian * onomatopoeic * onomatopoeious * onomatopoetic

    See also

    * Wiktionary's category of English words not following the I before E except after C rule

    hum

    English

    (wikipedia hum)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A hummed tune, i.e. created orally with lips closed.
  • An often indistinct sound resembling human humming.
    • They could hear a hum coming from the kitchen, and found the dishwasher on.
  • * Shakespeare
    • the shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums
  • Busy activity, like the buzz of a beehive.
  • (UK, slang) unpleasant odour.
  • (dated) An imposition or hoax; humbug.
  • (obsolete) A kind of strong drink.
    • (Beaumont and Fletcher)

    Verb

    (humm)
  • To make a sound from the vocal chords without pronouncing any real words, with one's lips closed.
    • We are humming happily along with the music.
  • To express by humming.
    • to hum a tune
    ''The hazers ominously hummed "We shall overcome" while they paddled the unruly pledges
  • To drone like certain insects naturally do in motion, or sounding similarly
  • * 1922 , (Virginia Woolf), (w, Jacob's Room) Chapter 2
    • A slight gloom fell upon the table. Jacob was helping himself to jam; the postman was talking to Rebecca in the kitchen; there was a bee humming at the yellow flower which nodded at the open window.
  • To buzz, be busily active like a beehive
    • 'The streets were humming with activity.''
  • To produce low sounds which blend continuously
  • (British) To reek, smell bad.
    • This room really hums — have you ever tried spring cleaning, mate?
  • (British) To deceive, or impose on one by some story or device.
  • (transitive, dated, slang) To flatter by approving; to cajole; to impose on; to humbug.

    • Derived terms

    * hummer * hummingbird * humming-top

    Related terms

    * humblebee

    Synonyms

    * bumble * bustle * hustle * buzz * croon * whir

    Anagrams

    *

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
  • hmm; an inarticulate sound uttered in a pause of speech implying doubt and deliberation.
    • (Alexander Pope)
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