Japanese Onomatopoeic Words (2)

Hey guys, how was your weekend? :)

It got really cold recently. My hometown was also covered with deep snow. Now I'm in Taiwan, but it's also cold even though it doesn't snow here.

My hometown, Kanazawa city in Japan

When I'm cold, I feel like to take a bath in a hot spring. I'd say 温泉でぬくぬくしたい.
It literary means "I want to do Nuku-nuku in a hot spring."
※温泉 /onsen/ hot spring bath
※～したい /...shitai/ I want to...
Yep, ぬくぬく /nuku-nuku/ is a onomatopoeic word in Japanese. ；）

We usually write those words in ひらがな or カタカナ letters, but this ぬくぬく can be written as 温温. I think even Japanese people don't know how to write it in Kanji, though.

This Kanji "温" has several meanings; warm, comfortable, peaceful, cozy.
You probably got the picture of what 温温（ぬくぬく) means, right?



Okay, now let's have a look at the rest words in Japanese onomatopoeic song.



トコトコ /toko-toko/ is just a sound of walking. テクテク /teku-teku/ is also the same.

ガラガラ/gara-gara/ is like "rattle", "clatter" in English. We also use this word when we describe the sound of a gargle. And, it also means "nearly empty".
映画館（えいがかん）はガラガラだった。
/eiga-kan wa gara-gara datta./
The movie theater was nearly empty.

ニャー /nyaa/ Meow!

スッテン/sutten/ The sound of slipping and falling down.

ヒリヒリ/hiri-hiri/ It expresses prickling pain, smarting or stinging.
There're lots of onomatopoeic words to describe a pain. A study found more than 82.8% people in Japan use onomatopoeic words to describe their pain when they see a doctor.
顔（かお）がヒリヒリする。日焼（ひや）けしたみたい。
/kao ga hiri-hiri suru. hiyake shita mitai./
My face hurts and tingles. I think I got sunburned.
※～みたい /...mitai/ It seems..., it looks like...
Please click here to see the example of みたい I wrote before.


ヒョコヒョコ/hyoko-hyoko/ sounds like someone or something is walking bobbingly.
It can express something is moving consistently up and down.

グー/guu/ is the stomach growling noise you make when you're hungry.


Now my stomach is actually growling. XO
Oh it still remains some words! I will write about them next time. (Perhaps!)
Thank you for reading! Bye :)