English language has different verbs for different species of animals making sound, many are onomatopoeias. But is there a general verb that can be applied to an unnamed animal? e.g., can I say "I heard an animal cry" (replace cry with the appropriate verb) when I can't tell what animal is making this sound?
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I heard an animal noise.– JimCommented Feb 7, 2018 at 4:10
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@Jim yes, but sometimes one might want a verb to emphasize the action.– Tony Beta LambdaCommented Feb 7, 2018 at 4:15
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Well then choose a verb that describes the sound...– JimCommented Feb 7, 2018 at 4:17
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@Jim well, there's a long list of possible verbs to remember– Tony Beta LambdaCommented Feb 7, 2018 at 7:40
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I heard an animal make a sound/noise...– JimCommented Feb 7, 2018 at 16:19
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1 Answer
'Cry' is a generic term - the most generic term - that you can generally use for any animal or bird, but because the sound is indeed onomatopoeic, there are are general words for different categories of types of sound - for example:
- bellow - is low and deep
- roar - is a loud deep sound, like a lion
- call - is a higher pitched maybe repetitive conversational sound, eg birds
And so on, a useful list is published here:
https://www.macmillandictionary.com/thesaurus-category/british/sounds-made-by-animals
