onomatopoeian

onomatopoeian noun: a word formed by onomatopoeia.

Noun

onomatopoeian (plural onomatopoeians)

(obsolete) A word formed by onomatopoeia.
- To slump; to slip, or fall plum down into any dirty, or wet place. It seems to he a word made per onomatopoeian from the sound.1818, John Ray, “South and East Country Words”, in A compleat collection of English proverbs. To which is added, A collection of English words not generally used. Repr. verbatim from the ed. of 1768...
- We have already alluded to the root "ach," as having been in all probability an onomatopœian which gives rise, to a large number of cognate words in the Indo-European languages.1860, Frederic William Farrar, “The Development of Roots”, in An essay on the origin of language: based on modern researches, and especially on the works of M. Renan, London: John Murray, page 109

onomatopoeian (comparative more onomatopoeian, superlative most onomatopoeian)

(obsolete) Of or pertaining to onomatopoeia.
- Hangs is a false word, — a Northern corruption of the negro dialect yang, — an onomatopœian word, representing the "far heard clang" of the wild goose.1867, Gail Hamilton, Wool-gathering, Boston: Ticknor and Fields, page 185

From onomatopoeia + -an.

What does onomatopoeian mean?: Onomatopoeian means a word formed by onomatopoeia.
What part of speech is onomatopoeian?: Onomatopoeian can be a noun or an adjective.
What is the plural of onomatopoeian?: The plural of onomatopoeian is onomatopoeians.

Adapted from Wiktionary: onomatopoeian (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “onomatopoeian.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/onomatopoeian. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.