Chinese onomatopoeia

Animal Sounds

嗥/嚎 (háo) – awoo; howl

吼 (hǒu) – roar 

哞 (mōu) – moo 

布谷 (bù gǔ) – cuckoo; chirp 

嗷呜 (áo wū) – growl 

嗯昂 (ēn áng) – hee haw 

吱吱 (zhī zhī) – tweet 

咩咩 (miē miē) – baah; bleating 

喵喵 (miāo miāo) – meow 

咯咯 (gē gē) – cluck 

哼哼 (hēng hēng) – oink 

嗡嗡 (wēng wēng) – buzz; hum 

嘶嘶 (sī sī) – hiss 

嘶嘶 (sī sī) – neigh 

吱吱 (zhī zhī) – squeak 

汪汪 (wāng wāng) – woof 

嘎嘎 (gā gā) – quack 

咕咕 (gū gū) – coo 

呱呱 (guā guā) – ribbit 

唧唧 (jī jī) – chirping of insects 

呜呜 (wū wū) – hoot; loud raucous cry (like an owl) 

叽叽喳喳 (jī ji chā chā) – chirp 

喔喔喔 (ō ō ō) – cock-a-doodle-doo; crow

"啪 (pā)" is similar to "pop!" in English. However, you could use it in so many situations and depending on the situation, the meaning doesn't directly translate into "pop".

For example, when joking with your friends and pretending that you'd smack them for an inappropriate joke, you can make the motion of hitting (but purposely missing) them while saying “啪!" If you do a couple of slaps, say three back and forth then say "啪,啪,啪!"

Though the first example is the most common way to use this word, another way to use "啪" can be describing something that’s fallen. "我的手机啪就掉下马桶了" or "My cell phone fell into the toilet, plat!"

When walking on the street and all of a sudden you see an interesting sign that is hanging in the window of a shop you can say "我走在马路上的时候，啪，就看到了标记" meaning "When I was walking on the street, voila, I saw the sign."

Below you'll find some other one character onomatopoeias. 

One Character Onomatopoeias

啊 (à) – ah! 

啊 (á) – huh? 

诶 (éi) – eh? 

呀 (ya) – eek! 

哇 (wa) – wow! 

啪 (pā) – pop! 

哦 (ó) – oh? 

哦 (ò) – oh! 

嗬 (hē) – hoy! 

唷 (yō) – yo 

唉 (ài) – alas 

吁 (yù) – sigh 

呃 (è) – er 

啦 (la) – la 

嘘 (xū) – hush 

呸 (pēi) – bah 

嘭 (pēng) – Boom!

If you forget something or if you drop something you'd say "ah!" or "oh crap!" Well, now instead you can say "哎呀!" in Chinese which means "oops!".

A great way to express surprise or "whoa!" would be 哇塞 (wa sāi). You can use this is together with "厉害" (powerful; strong). If one of your coworkers went to work only wearing a t-shirt when it was 50 degrees out to teach his class. All the students would tell him "哇塞, 好厉害!" or "Whoa! So strong!"

Here are some more two character onomatopoeias in Chinese. 

Two Character Onomatopoeias

咝咝 (sī sī) – pssst 

哈哈 (hā hā) – haha 

呵呵 (hē hē) – hehe 

咯咯 (gē gē) – chuckle/giggle

嘿嘿 (hēi hēi) – hey hey

嘻嘻 (xī xī) – hee hee

吼吼 (ho ho) – ho ho (like ‘haha’ used online) 

啧啧 (zé zé) – tsk/tut-tut 

咕哝 (gū nóng) – grunt 

啊呀 (a ya) – oh no!; come on! 

啊哈 (a ha) – aha! 

哎呀 (āi ya) – oops!; whoops! 

哎哟 (āi yō) – ow!; ouch! 

哇塞 (wa sāi) – whoa! 

飕飕 (sōu sōu) – soft swishing sound 

哗哗 (huā huā) – splash 

呼呼 (hū hū) – sound of something in rapid motion 

嘟嘟 (dū dū) – toot; beep; blasting of a horn 

潺潺 (chán chán) – sound of flowing water 

汩汩 (gǔ gǔ) – bubbling sound of water flowing from a bottle with a narrow neck 

沙沙 (shā shā) – rustle; leaves blowing in the wind 

咚咚 (dōng dōng) – thump; heavy dull sound (knock on the door) 

滋滋 (zī zī) – sizzle; sound of deep frying. 

轰隆 (hōng lóng) – rumbling; like thunder; sounds of a distant battle

哗啦 (huā lā) – crash 

咕嘟 (gū dū) – flow of an irregular current with a bubbling noise. 

阿嚏 (ā tì) – achoo! 

呼咻 (hū xiū) – whoosh 

扑哧 (pū chī) – nervous laughter 

呼噜 (hū lū) – snore 呼哧 (hū chī) – panting 

啪哒 (pā dā) – plop; sound of object falling into water 

咔哒 (kā dā) – chatter 

咔嚓 (kā chā) – snap; sudden sharp noise. 

哧溜 (chī liū) – whish 嘎吱 (gā zhī) – creak 

滴答 (dī dā) – tick-tock

You'll often hear chatter that you can't really make out clearly. Here's the perfect onomatopoeia: 叽里咕噜 (jī li gū lū).

Say you walk into a cafe and hear a bunch of people in the background talking. You can't make out exactly what they're saying but you know they're in the cafe. You can say "他们在叽哩咕噜什么?" or "What are they muttering about?" 

Four Character Expressions

叽叽呱呱 (jī jī guā guā) – the noise of talking, gossiping, chatter 

嘟嘟囔囔 (dū dū nāng nāng) – mutter to oneself. 

乒乒乓乓 (pīng pīng pāng pāng) – sound of something colliding with each other (especially to describe the sound of the ping pong ball in table tennis) 

扑通扑通 (pū tōng pū tōng) – sound of something jumping or dropping one by one into the water 

叽里咕噜 (jī li gū lū) – conversation among some people which others couldn't hear clearly 

叽里呱啦 (jī li guā lā) – someone's voice talking annoyingly loud 

劈里啪啦 (pī lǐ pā lā) – sound of firecrackers 

稀里哗啦 (xī lǐ huā lā) – sound of rain pouring or something collapsing 

丁零当啷 (dīng ling dāng lāng) – sound of metal works or porcelain clashing