November’s Word for Wednesday theme is fireworks. A firework is a device with an explosive that burns with coloured flames. The word dates to the 1570s from the Old English ‘fyr’ and ‘work’. Last week we looked at the word sparkler and today’s word is fountain. A fountain is a firework which is propped in the ground and, once lit, erupts a shower of sparks in the shape of a water fountain. Fountains often produce whistling sounds and bangs. The word fountain, in reference to a spring of water, dates to the early-fifteenth century and comes from Old French ‘fontaine’, from the Medieval Latin ‘fontana...
Our Word for Wednesday theme for May is onomatopoeia. An onomatopoeic word imitates the sound of the action or thing it describes. Onomatopoeic words are often used to describe animal sounds (chirp, hiss, meow, oink, squeak, etc), collisions (crash, bang, wallop, etc.); voice-related sounds (grunt, giggle, guffaw, rasp, wheeze, etc.); and water-related sounds (drip, gush, trickle, pitter-patter, etc.). So far we’ve looked at the words bumblebee, flip-flop, and hiccup. Today’s word is sizzle. Sizzle is a verb used to describe something that is making hissing a sound like that of frying fa...
Our Word for Wednesday theme for May is onomatopoeia. An onomatopoeic word imitates the sound of the action or thing it describes. Onomatopoeic words are often used to describe animal sounds (chirp, hiss, meow, oink, squeak, etc), collisions (crash, bang, wallop, etc.); voice-related sounds (grunt, giggle, guffaw, rasp, wheeze, etc.); and water-related sounds (drip, gush, trickle, pitter-patter, etc.). So far we’ve looked at the words bumblebee and flip-flop. This week's word is hiccup. The word hiccup imitates the chirping sound made by a spasm of the diaphragm and the sudden closure...
Our Word for Wednesday theme for May is onomatopoeia. An onomatopoeic word imitates the sound of the action or thing it describes. Onomatopoeic words are often used to describe animal sounds (chirp, hiss, meow, oink, squeak, etc), collisions (crash, bang, wallop, etc.); voice-related sounds (grunt, giggle, guffaw, rasp, wheeze, etc.); and water-related sounds (drip, gush, trickle, pitter-patter, etc.). Last week we looked at the word bumblebee and today’s onomatopoeic word is flip-flop. A flip-flop is a casual backless sandal which is held in place with a y-shaped strap between the big toe and...
Our Word for Wednesday theme for May is onomatopoeia. An onomatopoeic word imitates the sound of the action or thing it describes. Onomatopoeic words are often used to describe animal sounds (chirp, hiss, meow, oink, squeak, etc), collisions (crash, bang, wallop, etc.); voice-related sounds (grunt, giggle, guffaw, rasp, wheeze, etc.); and water-related sounds (drip, gush, trickle, pitter-patter, etc.). Our first word of the month is bumblebee. While the obvious onomatopoeic word associated with a bumblebee is ‘buzz’, the name of the creature itself is onomatopoeic too. Bumblebee dates back to the 1520s and replaced the Middle English ‘humbul-be&...
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