ドキドキ, バタバタ, ボコボコ: sound words in Japanese comedy
What doubled sound-and-feeling words like ドキドキ, バタバタ and ボコボコ mean, how they fit into a sentence, and when you can use them yourself.
Ukeru notes · counts are from the current library (1,905 routines, 174,812 machine-transcribed lines) and update as it grows
The words textbooks skip
Many textbooks give onomatopoeia a single page: ワンワン for a dog, ニャー for a cat, maybe ドキドキ for a racing heart. Then they go back to grammar. In real speech these words are everywhere, and they do far more than imitate animals. A busy week is バタバタ. A smooth floor is ツルツル. A nervous heart is ドキドキ. Sometimes a single word does the job of a whole adjective-plus-adverb phrase.
Japanese has two overlapping groups of these words:
- 擬音語 (giongo) imitate real sounds: ガラガラ (rattling), ドンドン (banging), ザワザワ (a crowd murmuring).
- 擬態語 (gitaigo) describe states, textures, movements and feelings that make no sound at all: キラキラ (sparkling), ツルツル (smooth), イライラ (irritated), ワクワク (excited).
Many of them come in a doubled shape: a short chunk of sound, said twice (ドキ + ドキ, ガン + ガン). This note looks at that doubled shape and at a few words you will hear often.
The counts below come from machine-made transcripts of the 1,905 routines in our library, so read them as rough guides rather than exact figures.
Why we are not counting all of them
It is tempting to search the transcripts for every doubled word and report one big number. The trouble is that a search for "the same two syllables twice" catches much more than sound words. It picks up laughter (ははは, ハハハ), everyday doubles like いやいや, はいはい and もしもし, the phrase あるある ("so relatable"), and even brand names that happen to repeat. So we will not lean on a total.
Single words are much easier to count. ドキドキ, for example, appears on 33 lines, from 21 comedians.
How they fit into a sentence
Sound words are flexible, but most of them attach in one of four ways. Learn these and you can handle almost any new one.
- 〜する turns the word into a verb: ドキドキする, "my heart is pounding"; イライラする, "I'm irritated"; キラキラしてる, "it's sparkly".
- 〜と (often dropped) makes an adverb for how something happens: バタバタと走る, "run around noisily"; ゴロゴロ寝てる, "lazing around".
- 〜に describes a result or state: ガチガチに固まる, "freeze up stiff"; ボコボコにする, "beat (someone) to a pulp".
- 〜の or 〜な in front of a noun: ツルツルの床, "a slick floor"; プルプルのゼリー, "wobbly jelly".
Some can also stand alone as a noun, as in ドキドキが止まらない, "my heart won't stop racing".
A few you will hear often
ドキドキ: a pounding heart, from nerves, fear or romance. まだドキドキしてる, "my heart's still racing". In comedy you will also hear it repeated several times in a row as a live sound effect for a heartbeat.
バタバタ: originally the sound of flapping or running feet; now often "hectic, rushed". 今週バタバタしてて, "this week's been crazy busy".
ボコボコ: a lumpy, dented surface, and very commonly "beaten up". ボコボコにされた, "I got beaten to a pulp". Comedians use it for exaggerated threats and for losing badly at something.
ガンガン: banging noise, and by extension "full blast, aggressively". ガンガン喋る, "talk nonstop". 頭がガンガンする is a pounding headache.
キラキラ: sparkling, glittering, and by extension someone bright and glamorous. キラキラしてる人, "someone who seems to shine".
ガラガラ: rattling, and also "nearly empty". 電車がガラガラだった, "the train was almost empty". The context tells you which.
ツルツル and プルプル: textures. ツルツル is slick or smooth (a floor, a bald head); プルプル is wobbly or trembling (jelly, or legs after exercise).
どんどん: usually written in hiragana, and less about sound than speed: "steadily, one after another". どんどん食べて, "keep eating, go ahead".
Hiragana or katakana?
You will see the same word written both ways: ドキドキ and どきどき. A common tendency is katakana for loud, sharp sounds and hiragana for softer feelings, but there is no strict rule, and adverbs like どんどん are usually in hiragana. In our library, spelling also depends on the machine transcription, so do not read too much into how a word is written there.
Why comedians love them
Sound words are short, vivid and easy to perform. A comedian can act out a scene with voice alone: a heart going ドキドキドキドキ, someone stomping バタバタ, a creaking door. They are also easy to stretch for a laugh. Say a word one time and it describes. Say it six times, faster and faster, and it becomes a bit. And because they sit close to children's speech, a grown adult using a very childish sound word can be funny in itself.
Their partner's job is often to call this out. A sharp そんなドキドキいらないよ ("I don't need that kind of thrill") turns the sound word into the setup for a comeback. More on that pattern in Tsukkomi: the words Japanese comedians use to call out nonsense.
Using them yourself
Sound words are not slang. Most of them are standard Japanese, and you can use them with almost anyone in speech.
- With friends: all of the words above are fine. ボコボコにするぞ as a joking threat is friends-only, and only when the tone is clearly playful.
- With coworkers or people you don't know well: ドキドキしました, ワクワクします, ガラガラでした and similar words are natural inside polite ます speech. バタバタしておりまして, "things have been hectic", is even a common polite excuse at work.
- Careful: baby-talk words like ワンワン for "dog" sound childish in adult conversation, unless you are talking to a child or being deliberately cute. In formal writing, use ordinary verbs and adjectives instead: 忙しい rather than バタバタ, 緊張する rather than ドキドキ.