thwack
the sound of something hitting a surface
TRANSLATION
thwack = Klatsch! thwack (verb) = schlagen --- GOOGLE INDEX thwack: approximately 1,200,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
The dull THWACK of running water hitting hollow metal is heightened by the room's resonance into a soothing rush of white noise.
(www.thequietus.com)
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I had scrambled out of the coach and was instinctively settling my scarf, when somebody brushed roughly by me, and I heard a smart THWACK upon the coachman's ear.
- Mosses From An Old Manse and other stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne
(www.thequietus.com)
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I had scrambled out of the coach and was instinctively settling my scarf, when somebody brushed roughly by me, and I heard a smart THWACK upon the coachman's ear.
- Mosses From An Old Manse and other stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Did you
know?
thwack
noun
- the short loud sound of something like a stick hitting a surface
verb
- to hit something
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
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The word thwack has been around since the 16th century and is "onomatopoeic" in origin. That means it imitates a sound such as the "thwack of leather on willow" as the British like to say when referring to a cricket game (the ball is made of leather and the bat from the wood of a willow tree).
Onomatopoeic stems from the Greek onomatopoios, from onoma ("word, name) + a derivative of poiein (to compose, make). The English language is blessed with a wealth of descriptive onomatopoeic words including:
- thud = indicates the sound of a heavy object hitting the floor (The book fell to the floor with a thud)
- crack = a sharp snapping sound (Suddenly there was a crack and a tree branch fell on the house)
- pop = a short and sharp explosive sound (The little boy cried after his balloon popped)
- beep = a short, high-pitched tone (I couldn't get to sleep because someone's car alarm kept beeping all night)
- plop = To fall with a sound like that of an object falling into water without splashing (Just plop down in that chair over there)
- hiccup = imitates the sound produced by the convulsion of the diaphragm (If you have the hiccups, try drinking water until they stop)
Note: In a previous OWAD, we mistakenly reported that thwart is the only word in the English language that begins with the letters "thw." Several of our readers pointed out that there are at least two others: today's word "thwack" and "thwaite," which refers to a piece of land cleared from forest or reclaimed from wasteland. Although thwaite is considered an obsolete term, we'll let it count anyway.
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SYNONYMS
(verb)
bang, blow, bop, hit, knock, paddle, pound, rap, smack, smite, sock, strike, thrash, thump, wallop, whack
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SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Can you thwack that mosquito? It's driving me crazy."
noun
- the short loud sound of something like a stick hitting a surface
verb
- to hit something
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
---
The word thwack has been around since the 16th century and is "onomatopoeic" in origin. That means it imitates a sound such as the "thwack of leather on willow" as the British like to say when referring to a cricket game (the ball is made of leather and the bat from the wood of a willow tree).
Onomatopoeic stems from the Greek onomatopoios, from onoma ("word, name) + a derivative of poiein (to compose, make). The English language is blessed with a wealth of descriptive onomatopoeic words including:
- thud = indicates the sound of a heavy object hitting the floor (The book fell to the floor with a thud)
- crack = a sharp snapping sound (Suddenly there was a crack and a tree branch fell on the house)
- pop = a short and sharp explosive sound (The little boy cried after his balloon popped)
- beep = a short, high-pitched tone (I couldn't get to sleep because someone's car alarm kept beeping all night)
- plop = To fall with a sound like that of an object falling into water without splashing (Just plop down in that chair over there)
- hiccup = imitates the sound produced by the convulsion of the diaphragm (If you have the hiccups, try drinking water until they stop)
Note: In a previous OWAD, we mistakenly reported that thwart is the only word in the English language that begins with the letters "thw." Several of our readers pointed out that there are at least two others: today's word "thwack" and "thwaite," which refers to a piece of land cleared from forest or reclaimed from wasteland. Although thwaite is considered an obsolete term, we'll let it count anyway.
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SYNONYMS
(verb)
bang, blow, bop, hit, knock, paddle, pound, rap, smack, smite, sock, strike, thrash, thump, wallop, whack
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Can you thwack that mosquito? It's driving me crazy."
