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<philosophy> The formation of words in imitation of sounds; a figure of speech in which the sound of a word is imitative of the sound of the thing which the word represents; as, the buzz of bees; the hiss of a goose; the crackle of fire.
It has been maintained by some philologist that all primary words, especially names, were formed by imitation of natural sounds.
Origin: L, fr. Gr., a name + to make.
(01 Mar 1998)
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