How do onomatopoeic words imitate sounds across different languages?

Onomatopoeic words imitate sounds by using vocal mimicry to represent natural noises or actions. While the vast majority of vocabulary in any language is arbitrary—meaning there is no direct link between a word's sound and its meaning—onomatopoeic words provide a notable exception where the word's shape partially reflects the sound it describes.1234

Across different languages, these words often exhibit similarities in shape because they are independently derived from the same natural phenomena. For example, the call of a cuckoo is mimicked by the French coucou, English cuckoo, and German Kuckuck. Similarly, the clanging of bells is represented by English dingdong and German bim-bam, which share common sound features.45

Beyond direct imitation, some languages also utilize "sound symbolism," where specific sound types are associated with visual or tactile qualities, such as the use of high-front vowels (like the ee in wee) to denote smallness across various languages. Despite these instances, onomatopoeia represents only a small fraction of any language's vocabulary, as most human experience is not inherently tied to specific noises.4