iyo iyo

Japanese has a lot of onomatopoeic words with frequent usage. While I don’t understand typical Japanese conversations between native speakers I have found that it is easy for me to pick out onomatopoeia. Theses words are easily distinguished because most often they are a twice-repeated utterance for example; in Japanese a dog goes “wan wan.” A true onomatopoeia mimics a sound, but many of the instances in Japanese apply to silent things like kira kira for glittering stars. A few of these types of words that I get to use are, peko peko to describing being hungry, pera pera for being fluent in a language, and pika pika to describe something shiny. When researching this type of word I came across some that stood out as particularly funny, teka teka for grease hair, saga saga for being sarcastic, and gocha gocha for nagging or a messy apartment.

ban ban	plenty
bara bara	scattered, disperse, loose, disconnected, in pieces, in drops, rustling
bari bari	the sound of tearing, very busy.
basa basa	messy hair
bashi bashi	the sound of smacking someone on the head
bera bera	chatting, rattling
bichi bichi	flopping, smacking
bisho bisho	dripping wet
bo bo	the sound of a fire burning
boin boin	a well-endowed woman
boki boki	cracking a twig or one's knuckles
boko boko	the sound of hitting something (someone) hard
boro boro	the sound of a large object rolling, or worn out
bura bura	staggering around
busu busu	the sound of stabbing
butsu butsu	mumbling, whispering
chaku chaku	steadily
chika chika	flickering light, light from stars
chiku chiku	prickly pain
choki choki	snipping sound
choko choko	always moving around
deko bako	bumpy
doki doki	pounding heart, heart beating fast from excitement.
don don	building up of events, progression of events, little by little
dosun dosun	the sound of stomping
fusa fusa	a full and attractive head of hair
fuwa fuwa	fluffy, but also cozy, pleasant
gaku gaku	knees shaking in fear
gan gan	pounding headache
gara gara	almost empty
gari gari	the sound of grinding or scraping
gasa gasa	dry, rough skin the sound of leaves or papers rustling
gata gata	trembling with cold (humans), vibrations
gatsu gatsu	hungrily, voraciously
gaya gaya	crowded
gera gera	loud laughter
gero gero	the sound a frog makes
giri giri	just barely, just in time, just passed a test
gito gito	being oily
gocha gocha	the state of disorder common to apartments, nagging
goro goro	idleness, upset stomach, sound of lighting
goshi goshi	the sound of washing clothes vigorously by hand
gucha gucha	soft and wet, an awful mess
guru guru	going around and around in circles
guu guu	fast asleep and snoring
guu guu	stomach rumbles, snoring
guzu guzu	lazily, slowly
gyaa gyaa	the sound of a tantrum
hara hara	heart going pit a-pat, nervousness, about to faint
hiri hiri	burning pain
hou bou	here, there and everywhere
iki iki	vividly
ira ira	the state of being frustrated
iro iro	this and that, variety, variously.
iyo iyo	more and more
jiku jiku	oozing
jime jime	clamminess
jiro jiro	to stare
kacha kacha	the sound of small things clattering
kan kan	very angry
kara kara	very dry
kari kari	the sound of someone scratching their head in puzzlement
kata kata	the sound of small things clattering
kera kera	laughter
keta keta	laughter
kira kira	twinkle, glitter, sparkle
kiri kiri	sharp continuous pain
kokkuri kokkuri	nod off
Kotsu Kotsu	rhymic, having a beat
kowa kowa	scared
kusu kusu	giggling
kuyo kuyo	worry about, mope
kyoro kyoro	looking around restlessly
mago mago	confused
masu masu	more or less, increasing
mecha mecha	messed up, illogical, unreasonable
meki meki	the state of making rapid progress
mera mera	the sound of a fire blazing up
meso meso	sobbing, sniffling
miin miin	the sound of a cicada
mishi mishi	the sound of creaking
mogu mogu	the sound of eating
mori mori	doing something willingly
moto moto	originally, by nature, from the start
mou mou	the sound a cow makes
muka muka	feel nauseous
muka muka	a sound someone makes when they are disgusted
niko niko	smiling
nita nita	smirking
niya niya	grinning
pachi pachi	clapping hands
paku paku	eat in big mouthfuls, take quick bites
pan pan	pounding, a full stomach
pecha kucha	chattering
peko peko	very hungry
pera pera	fluent in a language
pero pero	licking
pichi pichi	the state of being young, fresh, vigorous
pii pii pii	whining, puling
pika pika	shine brightly, glitter a polished object
piku piku	twitching
piyo piyo	chirping of small birds
pocha pocha	splash in water
poka poka	the state of being nice and warm
pon pon	the sound of someone knocking on the door
pon pon	drumming
poro poro	the sound of small objects rolling down
potsu potsu	the state of small drops falling sporadically
pun pun	a strong smell
raku raku	easily
saga saga	the state of being sarcastic
sara sara	rustle, murmur
shiku shiku	dull pain, the sound one makes when crying
suya suya	sleep peacefully
tama tama	unexpectedly
teka teka	greasy hair
ten ten	like dots
ton ton	the sound of someone knocking on the door
toro toro	doze off
tsuru tsuru	slippery, smooth
tsuya tsuya	glossy
uro uro	stumble
uto uto	doze off
wai wai	noisy exuberance
wan wan	the sound a dog makes
yura yura	waver, shake quietly
zaa zaa	the sound of pouring rain.
zuki zuki	throbbing pain