About - matsumurae/onomatodict-jp GitHub Wiki

About Onomatodict

Japanese has onomatopoeia as the core of it's language. There's onomatopoeic words everywhere! Describing sounds, things, feelings… Everything! These words are rooted on the language and it's really really hard to get know them if you're not Japanese.

Why another dictionary

I know there's a lot of resources out there (books, websites, etc) but I had problems with things I need to look for (not only onomatopoeia). My biggest complains are:

  1. Need to look deeply to find…
  2. If you find it, you'll probably need to look at diff resources to understand it and…
  3. Probably, they don't have a visual example so you'll get a catch even without explanation.

Having a visual explanation for words / grammar it's really really useful. At least for me, I get better if I see a conversation rather than reading a grammar point (plus I hate this). I'm a visual learner. That's the reason why I started why I started this onomatopoeia project.

What you'll find

In this wiki page you'll get to know the different onomatopoeia classifications, meaning of each category and a visual example of it. I tried my best to explain each category in a simple and understandable way so everyone can get the real meaning.

How to use the dictionary?

Let's say you go to the N letter, where you'll find every available onomatopoeia arranged alphabetically. You'll find the next info for each word:

  • Describing image: I try to get them from manga but sometimes it's not easy.
  • Video: if there's any explanation on YT.
    • It's possible to have a Anime field where you'll see the onomatopoeia in a realistic usage.
  • Audio: if there's an available audio for the word.
  • Related: related onomatopoeias.
  • Meaning: Real meaning or meanings of the word.
  • Type: As described in Onomatopoeia classification.
  • Category: Used to categorize JSON data. MEANINGLESS HERE.
  • Onomatopoeia: Equivalence onomatopoeia.
  • Equivalence: Word equivalence. Sometimes there's no direct equivalence and it's more like a word or list of words that could be used for.
  • Sources: Info source.
  • Usage: grammar rules about how it's commonly used. This is not a mandatory rule, it's more a guideline. The words used here are not the only way to use them.
  • Examples: real-word examples to see how the onomatopoeia is used.