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What's the name of the sound a child makes after an angry, declarative and usually defiant statement.

Parent:

John, you can't take a cookie out of the cookie jar.

Child:

Yes, I can! HMPH!

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The grammatical term for such words that represent sounds is an 'onomatopoeia'. – user7910 Apr 28 '11 at 11:13

migrated from parenting.stackexchange.com Apr 25 '11 at 7:43

1 Answer

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humph |həmf|

exclamation

used to express slightly scornful doubt or dissatisfaction.

ORIGIN natural utterance: first recorded in English in the mid 16th cent.

(Via Apple OS X Dictionary)

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Another source: dictionary.reference.com/browse/humph – Koert Apr 24 '11 at 20:57

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