# Knock, knock



## Encolpius

Hello, what onomatopoeic word do you use for knocking on the door? Thanks. 

*Hungarian*: kopp-kopp


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## apmoy70

In Greek:
Τακ-τακ (tak-tak)


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## Maurice92

Encolpius said:


> Hello, what onomatopoeic word do you use for knocking on the door? Thanks.



French : toc toc
Setswana : co co


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## jazyk

In Brazil: toque-toque.


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## Orlin

Bulgarian: чук-чук (chuk-chuk).


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## rusita preciosa

Russian: тук-тук /tuk-tuk/


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## Angel.Aura

In *Italian*: _toc toc_ (sounds like tok tok)


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## sakvaka

In *Finnish*: _kop kop_!


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## Favara

Catalan: _toc toc_ (/tɔk tɔk/)


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## bibax

Czech: ťuk ťuk (pronounced with palatal t: tyúk tyúk)


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## Trauer

Polish: puk puk!


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## Equinozio

Tagalog: tok tok


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## Wilma_Sweden

Swedish:

Knack-knack. [knaknak]


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## belén

In Spanish: 

Toc, toc


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## farscape

Romanian:
cioc, cioc (chiok, chiok)


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## Rallino

Turkish: Tak tak
Japanese: トントン　(ton ton)


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## Maroseika

Tatar: 
shak-shak, shaky-shaky, shyk-shyk, shalt-shalt, tuk-tuk, tyk-tyk, tok-tok

Kazakh:
tars-turs

Ossetian:
guypp-guypp, kuyrts-kuyrts

Kirghiz:
tak-tuk


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## Hutschi

In German it is 

"Klopf-klopf!" with the related verb "klopfen", or
"Poch, poch!" with the related verb "pochen".

Basically they mean the same with the following difference:

"Pochen" is usually done with the ankle of the finger, seldom a tool is used. "Klopfen" is often be done with the ankle of the finger, but in many cases a tool is used. In tendency it is louder than "pochen".

If a tool is used, it is usually named.


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## ThomasK

In Dutch: *klop-klop* (from (?) _kloppen_, to knock). Maybe tok-tok, but that seems less common. 

_Just wondering: are we and the Swedish the only ones in the world who have heard the noise begins with a double-consonant sound ? ;-)_


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## Encolpius

Maroseika said:


> Tatar:
> shak-shak, shaky-shaky, shyk-shyk, shalt-shalt, tuk-tuk, tyk-tyk, tok-tok
> 
> Kazakh:
> tars-turs
> 
> Ossetian:
> guypp-guypp, kuyrts-kuyrts
> 
> Kirghiz:
> tak-tuk



Very interesting contribution, because *Kazakh *and *Kirghiz *seems to be the only languages that do not use exact reduplication. In Hungarian the not exact reduplication (i.e. not kopp-kopp, but kipp-kopp means something else).


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## Wilma_Sweden

ThomasK said:


> In Dutch: *klop-klop* (from (?) _kloppen_, to knock). Maybe tok-tok, but that seems less common.
> 
> _Just wondering: are we and the Swedish the only ones in the world who have heard the noise begins with a double-consonant sound ? ;-)_


I would have though German klopf also counts?  I have no idea what the other Scandinavians say. Feel free to post a thread in the Nordic forum.


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## ThomasK

Oh yes, they hear even better: they hear the double sound at the beginning and the affricate /pf/ at the end!


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## Hutschi

ThomasK said:


> In Dutch: *klop-klop* (from (?) _kloppen_, to knock). Maybe tok-tok, but that seems less common.
> 
> _Just wondering: are we and the Swedish the only ones in the world who have heard the noise begins with a double-consonant sound ? ;-)_



As I wrote: The German language has "klopf-klopf!" which seems to be cognate at the first glance. 

English has "knock" where "k" became silent. Are there English dialects, where it is spoken?


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## Wilma_Sweden

Hutschi said:


> English has "knock" where "k" became silent. Are there English dialects, where it is spoken?


As far as I'm aware, no English ones that I know of, but some variants of Scots, according to Wikipedia. It is debatable whether Scots should be regarded as a dialect of English or a language of its own.


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## Encolpius

Maurice92 said:


> French : toc toc
> Setswana : co co



Just to be sure, I cannot speak Setswana , do you pronounce it [ko,ko]? thanks.


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## TriglavNationalPark

Slovenian: *trk, trk* (*trkati* = to knock)


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## Duya

Serbo-Croatian: "kuc kuc"; the verb is "kucati".


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## apmoy70

apmoy70 said:


> In Greek:
> Τακ-τακ (tak-tak)


I apologize for quoting myself, I just wanted to add that τοκ-τοκ (tok-tok) is also common. The verb is «κτυπώ» or (colloquially) «χτυπώ» (kti'po or xti'po) from the ancient «κτυπέω», "ktū'peō" [uncontracted]/«κτυπῶ», "ktū'pō" [contracted], lit. "to ring or resound"


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## ThomasK

So you don't have reduplication, do you ? Or no, I have misunderstood: the first is the onomatopeia, the second is the verb.... Strange though that you use the 'ring' verb for expressing the 'knock-knock', or isn't it ?


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## Hutschi

When I think about this, there is a variant with repeating twice in German:

Klopf-klopf-klopf!
or
Poch-poch-poch!


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## Faylasoof

In both Hindi and Urdu we use:

كھٹ كھٹانا  खट्खटाना_  khaT khaTaanaa_

I mentioned this here, post 33. 

An _onomatopoetic_ word in Urdu: _ism-e-Saut_ اسم صوت = the noun of sound!


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## ilydork

It's  '똑똑' (add more 똑 if you want) - 'ddok ddok'


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## lcfatima

I have heard "tak tak karna" but this may be motherese.


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## apmoy70

ThomasK said:


> Strange though that you use the 'ring' verb for expressing the 'knock-knock', or isn't it ?


Yes it is. In Greek (ancient & modern) with the same verb (kti'po or xti'po) one "rings the bell", "knocks the door", even "hits a person"


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## panjabigator

lcfatima said:


> I have heard "tak tak karna" but this may be motherese.



I've heard both (also from my mom!).


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## Malti

Wilma_Sweden said:


> As far as I'm aware, no English ones that I know of



It's pronounced here (rural South-West England), though as a [g] not a [k].


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## Equinozio

Maroseika said:


> Tatar:
> shak-shak, shaky-shaky, shyk-shyk, shalt-shalt...



Interesting that they start with *sh*. Would you happen to know why? (Were doors traditionally not made of wood, as in tents?)



ThomasK said:


> Oh yes, they hear even better: they hear the double sound at the beginning and the affricate /pf/ at the end!


I hear those sounds too when I'm in Germany.


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## ThomasK

Very interesting observation indeed, Eq.: we expected a plosive (or a combination at least); there is one at the end, though, but...


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## Pugnator

[Moderator's Note: Merged with a previous thread]
Hello, what's the onomatopoeia for knocking on your language ?
In English it is "Knock Knock"
In Italian is "Toc Toc"
In Neapolitan is "Tuppe Tuppe"
.
The strange things is that in all the three languages the onomatopoeia is composed by 2 words, like most onomatopeia.


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## DaylightDelight

Japanese:
トントン(tong-tong) or コンコン(cong-cong) are common for light/usual knocks.
ドンドン(dong-dong) may be used for heavy knocks.


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## jazyk

Portuguese: toc toc.


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## Dymn

Catalan and Spanish too: _toc toc_


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## bibax

Czech:

*ťuk ťuk* [c̟uk c̟uk] or *ťuky ťuk* [c̟ukɪ c̟uk]


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## al-sirbi

Serbian :

куц-куц (kuts-kuts)


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## Nawaq

_toc toc_ in *French* also.


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## Messquito

叩叩叩(koukoukou) in Chinese, note that there's usually three, not two.


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## Red Arrow

In Dutch: *klop klop*


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## 123xyz

Macedonian:

*чук-чук* (just like Bulgarian)

cf. *чука/чукне*, the verb meaning to knock


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## SuperXW

Messquito said:


> 叩叩叩(koukoukou) in Chinese, note that there's usually three, not two.


Maybe 叩叩叩(koukoukou) is common in Taiwan and some regions, but I personally don't know anyone who would use this (I lived in Beijing and Shenzhen majorly).
Checking the question on baidu.com, which platform is used by most Mainland Chinese, I found none of the given answer was 叩叩叩(koukoukou).

I and most Chinese I know usually use 咚咚咚(dong1dong1dong1).


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## Ectab

Arabic:
دق دق duq-duq

Iraqi Arabic dug-dug (we change q into g) and we would repeat it three times dug-dug-dug or dug-dug-doog


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## ilocas2

Czech:

klepy klep


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## Encolpius

What is the difference between ťuk ťuk and klepy klep?


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## franknagy

Encolpius said:


> Hello, what onomatopoeic word do you use for knocking on the door? Thanks.
> 
> *Hungarian*: kopp-kopp


Kipp-kopp


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## Chrzaszcz Saproksyliczny

In Polish you knock with _puk-puk_, and it's funny to see the Finnish example - here _kop kop_ would mean that you are kicking the door with your boot!


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## ThomasK

ThomasK said:


> Very interesting observation indeed, Eq.: we expected a plosive (or a combination at least); there is one at the end, though, but...


I am repeating myself, but in the end, we seem to able to generalize to a large extent: two plosives in general, one to start with, sometimes with a liquida like 'l' added (kl-), then a fairly open vowel [a, 'short o'] and then a plosive again [-ap, op, -ok, -uq, ...].
One exception to that 'rule' : a fricative like /sh/ to begin with. Could anyone imagine an explanation?


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