Japanese must be one of the richest languages in onomatopoeia, words imitating sounds; “giongo” or “giseigo” in Japanese. A great many of these consist of two syllables, once repeated, and sound a bit like baby language. Maybe that’s why I became infatuated with them, but as this affection grew, I noticed that these words are very practical, convey meaning quickly, and often surprise native speakers, because they’re rarely textbook language. (A good number of them I’ve come across in TV commercials.) So I’ve decided to compile as extensive a list of these words as possible, out of personal interest and for the benefit of anyone who desires to pick up some very Japanese vocabulary. Read them out loud and see if you can’t imagine the accompanying action or state!

My Japanese is mediocre, and my translations may be off, so all contributions and corrections are more than welcome. There are bound to be more: unless I’ve miscalculated, 4489 possibilities exist to combine the 45 Japanese syllables in pairs (including the soft g-, z-, d-, b-, and p-led syllables, but excluding combinations with themself, combinations beginning with “n”, and all “kyo-” or “sho-“type contractions).

J-Slang	English	Contributor	Notes
bachin-bachin	heavy typing	Kishida-san
bara-bara	scattered, loose	thduggie
bari-bari	tearing, crunching	thduggie
bata-bata	rattling, commotion	thduggie’s piece of cardboard
becha-becha	chattering, prattling, gooey, messy	thduggie
bera-bera	nonstop rapid talking	Anna
beron-beron	very drunk	Olivier
beta-beta	sticky	Tsuri-san, Suzuki-san
beto-beto	gooey	Hiromi
betsu-betsu	separate	textbook
biri-biri	like an electric shock	Stef
bori-bori	hard to the bite	Hiromi
boro-boro	rumpled, scuffed, slightly damaged	thduggie
bota-bota	drip(ping)	Santa and her friends
boto-boto	drip(ping)	Santa and her friends
buka-buka	too big, baggy	thduggie’s piece of cardboard
bura-bura	idly, aimlessly (strolling or walking)	Stef, Anna
buru-buru	shaking, shivering with cold or fear	Robert
butsu-butsu	grumbling, complaining, muttering	thduggie
buu-buu	cow lowing	capnquackenbush
byuu-byuu	whistling (wind)	Ohashi-san
chapu-chapu	splashing water	Joseph G
chiku-chiku	prickling pain	Stef
choki-choki	snipping, cutting	Kinjirou, Tsuri-san
chuu	kiss, peck	Holly Skewis, Erika Acosta
dan-dan	slowly but surely	textbook
dara-dara	lazy, sluggish, prevaricating	thduggie
doki-doki	excited, nervous (esp. in romantic situations)	thduggie
doku-doku	gushingly, profusely	thduggie
don-don	quickly	textbook
fura-fura	meandering, without direction (walking)	thduggie, Mishima-san
fuwa-fuwa	cushy soft	thduggie
gachi-gachi	chattering (of teeth), thinking hard	Mieko
gara-gara	clattering, rattling	thduggie
gari-gari	scratching, clawing	thduggie
gatsu-gatsu	voraciously	Mil of the Cosmodrome
giri-giri	just barely	thduggie, Stef
gishi-gishi	grinding teeth	Joseph G
gisu-gisu	strained (atmosphere), thin and bony	thduggie
goku-goku	quickly (drinking, swallowing)	Okaasan
goro-goro	idle, relaxed	Stef
goro-goro	thunder	Stef
guden-guden	dead drunk	Olivier’s dictionary
gun-gun	rapidly, smoothly (aircraft, boats)	thduggie
guru-guru	turning round, spiraling	Santa and her friends, thduggie
gusha-gusha	messed up; flowing slowly	Tomoko Diesel, usha; thduggie	?
gutsu-gutsu	simmering	Olivier’s dictionary
guzu-guzu	snuffling	Joseph G
gyu-gyu	squashed together (as on train)	Joseph G
hara-hara	uneasy	thduggie
hiku-hiku	sniffing, twitching	thduggie
hiri-hiri	hot, burning feeling (sunburn)	Hiromi
iro-iro	various	textbook
jan-jan	a lot	thduggie
japan-japan (sic)	splashing (water on oneself)	Kishida-san
jari-jari	crunchy, grainy (to the bite)	Matsuo-san
jiri-jiri	sizzling, scorching (sun), alarm bell, oozing out, gradually, irritatedly	thduggie’s piece of cardboard
jiro-jiro (miru)	staring, scrutinizing	thduggie
jori-jori	to shave	Mieko
kachi-kachi	ticking (of clock)	Hiromi
kachi-kochin	rock hard	Joseph G
kan-kan (okoru)	very (to get very angry)	thduggie
kara-kara	thirsty	Hiromi, Okaasan
kira-kira	sparkling, twinkling	Philip, Mil of the Cosmodrome
kisu-kisu	kissing (duh)	thduggie
kocho-kocho	secret	Naito-san
kocho-kocho (suru)	to tickle	Naito-san
kori-kori	crunchy (e.g. biting on cartilage)	thduggie
koro-koro	rolling (small, round object)	Stef
kotsu-kotsu	clicking (of high heels)	Kishida-san
kuta-kuta	dead tired	thduggie
kuyo-kuyo	worry about, brood over	Bert Dekkers
kya	squealing	Erika Acosta
kyoro-kyoro	(look around) restlessly	thduggie’s piece of cardboard
masu-masu	more and more	thduggie
mecha-mecha	lots, very	Chiharu, Nami
mii-mii	sheep bleating	capnquackenbush	K
misu-misu	under one’s nose	thduggie	K
muki-muki	suitability	thduggie	K
muri-muri	impossible	Gillian Kalitsi	K
muzu-muzu	itchy, impatient, excited	Suzuki-san, thduggie
naga-naga	very long	Stef
naka-naka	hardly	thduggie	–
naka-naka	quite, rather	Ohashi-san
neba-neba	sticky, viscous	thduggie
nita-nita	grinning	Mil of the Cosmodrome
noro-noro	slowly	Stef
nya-nya	cat	Nakagawa-san
nyoro-nyoro	slithering	Mishima-san
pachi-pachi	dripping wet	Chiharu, Nami
pachi-pachi	shutter-snapping	Hiromi
pachin-pachin	small, cute	Kishida-san
paku-paku	quickly (eating), munching	Hiromi, Joseph G
para-para	light fall (rain, powder)	Suzuki-san
pari-pari	crispy (e.g. potato chips)	Santa and her friends
pasa-pasa	dry (hair, cakes, etc.)	thduggie, Santa and her friends
pata-pata	pattering (feet)	Hiromi
peko-peko	very hungry	Olivier
peko-peko	apologize excessively, with bobbing head	Hiromi
pera-pera	fluent(ly)	Anna, thduggie
pero-pero	lapping (like a dog)	Hiromi
peta-peta	sticky; pressing repeatedly	Tomoko Diesel; thduggie	?
pichi-pichi	fresh, lively	thduggie
pika-pika	bright, flashing, sparkling	Stef
piri-piri	hot (in taste)	Stef, Hiromi
pocha-pocha	elastic (skin)	thduggie
poki-poki	snapping, popping (e.g. twigs)	Joseph G
poto-poto	drip(ping) in large drops	Santa and her friends
potsu-potsu	bit by bit, spotty	thduggie
potsun-potsun	first raindrops	Hiromi
puchi-puchi	popping (e.g. ikura, bubble plastic)	Nakagawa-san
pun-pun	angry (girl)	Robert Ho
puri-puri	angrily	thduggie
puri-puri	smell(ing) strongly	thduggie
rabu-rabu	romantic (love-love)	Stef
saku-saku	crunchy, eating noisily	Santa and her friends, Hiromi
sara-sara	fluently, smoothly flowing	thduggie
sara-sara	dry, squeaky clean	thduggie
sawa-sawa	soft?, patting?	thduggie	?
shaa-shaa	shamelessly, carefree	thduggie
shari-shari	luxurious	Naito-san
shiba-shiba	often, frequently	thduggie
shibu-shibu	reluctantly	Hiromi
shiku-shiku	crying	Santa and her friends
shin-shin	sound of heavy snow	Sadako Yamamura
shito-shito	raining	Santa and her friends
shiwa-shiwa	(very) wrinkled	thduggie
shuwa-shuwa	opening a soda can	Roger Ferrari
sowa-sowa	nervous	thduggie
suku-suku	(growing/sprouting) quickly	thduggie’s piece of cardboard
sura-sura	fast (writing)	Hiromi
suru-suru (to)	nimbly (small animals, etc.)	thduggie
suya-suya	sleeping peacefully	Mil of the Cosmodrome
tabi-tabi	often, repeatedly	Stef
tama-tama	occasionally	thduggie
tekka-tekka	shiny, sweaty	Avi Fischer
teku-teku	walking, footsteps; poke to get attention	Kishida-san; Sarabjit
tikka-tikka	shiny, sweaty	Avi Fischer
tiri-tiri	curly (hair)	Luiz Roberto Kamide
toku-toku	pouring quickly, in gasps	thduggie, Mishima-san
ton-ton	patting shoulder	Ohashi-san
toro-toro	drowsily	Stef
tsuru-tsuru	smooth to the touch	Hiromi
uro-uro	loitering, aimless wandering	thduggie
uzu-uzu	itching to do something	thduggie
waku-waku	nervous, excited, trembling	thduggie
wan-wan	dog	Nakagawa-san
waza-waza	go to the trouble of, expressly, intentionally	thduggie
zaa-zaa	pouring rain, rushing water, white noise	Santa and her friends
zabuun-zabuun	pouring water (on oneself)	Kishida-san
zun-zun	rapidly, by leaps and bounds	thduggie’s piece of cardboard

Notes:
– used with negatives
K written with kanji, thus technically not onomatopoetic
? uncertain – someone please confirm!
“textbook” refers to Minna no Nihongo I and II

Big helps:
JWPce waapuro using
Jim Breen’s Japanese-English Dictionary

Harry Lawrence has written an entire book on the topic.

Joseph G. adds an important note:

I noticed entries on your site’s list of Japanese onomatopoeia that would not be actual onomatopoeia because they are not derived from sounds but rather other words. There seems to be some confusion on thew part of your contributors (including the Japanese ones) as to the meaning of onomatopoeia.
Important :
All words that repeat their stem are not onomatopoeia. The meaning or origin of the word needs to be understood to determine if the duplication is onomatopoeic or not.

Please see the Japanese section of the wikipedia entry on reduplication.
In Japanese there is the tendency to modify some adjectives by repeating the stem to give them a somewhat different nuance. An example is of this is the adjective nagai 長い -long. By repeating the root without the “i” ending you get Naga-naga, which can be used to express something long in the “drawn out” or unnecessarily long as in “long-winded” sense. However, just because it is repeated does not mean that it is an attempt at imitating the sound of something too long (in duration) or someone being long winded. Therefore, this is not to be considered an onomatopoeia.
Another example, “Cho” 「蝶」 is butterfly but is more commonly said by repeating the Kanji rendering it “Cho-Cho”,「蝶々」. However, just because it is repeated does not indicate that it is in anyway derived from the sound a butterfly is perceived to make.

I’ve listed below the ones on your list that are not onomatopoeia but simply derived from other words being repeated. There may be more that I’ve missed. (Interestingly, at first glance, I thought Kisu-kisu which comes from English “Kiss” was not an onomatopoeia But after looking at the wikipedia site for kiss, I noticed that is says the Old English word it comes from, “coss,” is “perhaps onomatopoetic.”)

These are not onomatopoeia:
betsu-betsu (betsu 別 means separate)
dan-dan (dan 段 means level or step- step by step)
giri-giri (giri切りmeans to cut as in deadline – just avoid getting cut)
iro-iro (iro 色means color as in various colors)
masu-masu (masu 増すmeans to increase-not a sound)
naga-naga (see above)
naka-naka (not from a sound)
rabu-rabu (from “love” which is not a sound or onomatopoeia)
shiba-shiba (しばしば -is not a sound)
tabi-tabi (たびたび -same as above)
tama-tama (たまたま-not from a sound)

Although Joseph is right, I’ll still keep the whole list up.  And one of these days I’ll get the table to look nicer and hiragana into the table.  Now I’m just glad to have updated it and moved it here from the former geocities location (2009/10/11).

Do you know more onomatopoeia? Did you spot any glaring mistakes or omissions? Send your contribution to stephan.stuecklin [at] a3.epfl.ch!

This site used to be at http://www.geocities.com/thduggie/japan/jslang.htm, but then geocities closed.