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up vote 6 down vote favorite

Is it crack? Snap? Wh-tch? Whop-eesh?

Alternatively, if I don't use the actual noise. Do I write: The whip rang out? Cracked?

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2 Answers

up vote 13 down vote accepted

The sound is generally referred to as the crack of a whip or a whip crack, and since crack is already onomatopoeic, you can't go wrong with it. Crack! See. That hurt a little, didn't it?

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2  
This is, of course, only one of the many sounds that a whip can make. Specifically the one made by a rapid back and forth movement of the handle causing the tip of the whip to move supersonically. Whips can also slither, zip, slap, thump and make any number of other sounds. – RedGrittyBrick Mar 10 '11 at 16:20
But according to Snap it is Crack ;) Like the crack of the whip I snap attack - Front to back in this thing called rap – mplungjan Apr 26 '11 at 9:31
...and you don't want that. :) – cornbread ninja 麵包忍者 Feb 28 '12 at 0:47
up vote 2 down vote

If we're coining onomatopoeia, I think sounds like wuh-PSSSH!

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It's definitely a *kuh-CHHHH" to me heh. – Noldorin Feb 28 '12 at 1:53
Admittedly, the version in my head is from "Baby Got Back". – cornbread ninja 麵包忍者 Feb 28 '12 at 3:25

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