Onomatopoeia words are a great way for us to explain a sound rather than describe it with a mass of words. This article will look at the sound of kissing and what the best kiss onomatopoeia is.
What Are The Best Ways To Spell The Sound Of Kissing?
There are plenty of choices out there, and some people like to create their own variations. However, the best ones to use are:
- Mwah
- Muah
- Smack
- x-x-x
- Umma
The preferred version is “mwah” because it’s the most widely recognized spelling. When saying it, you’re expected to make the smacking noise of an air kiss to recreate the sound rather than just reading the word and pronouncing it like “mw-ah.”
Mwah
Let’s start with the best version. While kissing is a hard sound to come up with, we can still make the most of “mwah” when we need to.
“Mwah” works well to show the sound that lips make when they kiss each other. While not directly stated from the spelling, it’s helpful to pronounce this more with a lip-smacking sound than by simply following the letters as they’re laid out.
You might find that “mwah” is more like the sound an air kiss would make. This is correct to a point since a lot of people use this sound in speaking to blow a kiss or sarcastically kiss the air at somebody.
You might see it work in the following ways:
- Mwah! That one was from me, and this one is from my mother!
- Mwah! I can’t get over how much I love you!
- Mwah! See you around, sport!
- Mwah! That was from both of us, but try not to overthink it!
Muah
“Muah” is a variation of “mwah,” where some people prefer the letter “U” to help them emphasize the lip-smacking sound.
“Muah” is another variation we can use to show the sound of kissing. It’s a variant spelling of “mwah,” where some people replace the “w” with a “u” to show that there is more of a smacking sound to the kiss.
We can use this one whenever we want to kiss somebody, both on the lips or to blow a kiss at them. It’s trying to create that same lip-smack sound, which is what most of the words in English miss out on.
Unfortunately, trying to recreate the exact noise that kissing makes is seemingly impossible. There hasn’t been a truly successful one to completely recreate the sound, which is why the onomatopoeia words aren’t all that common.
We could use it as follows:
- Muah! I’m so happy you managed to get here!
- Muah! It’s been far too long, but I’m glad to see you again.
- Muah! How can we have left it all this time since we last saw each other?
- Muah! I knew you were one to keep an eye on.
Smack
“Smack” is the only real word on this list that we can use. It directly refers to the lip-smacking sound that a kiss makes, so let’s look into it more.
“Smack” is the sound of a loud kiss. We use it to talk about two lips colliding with each other, and the resulting “smack” is the noise their kiss makes. It’s an over-exaggeration of a kissing noise, but it works well in a lot of cases.
The definition of “smack,” according to The Cambridge Dictionary, is “a loud kiss.”
Many people use the phrase “smack on the lips” to refer to kissing. It’s especially popular with older people when they’re trying to embarrass the younger generation by asking for a kiss.
You could see “smack” in the following ways:
- Give him a smack on the lips from me, would you?
- You need a great big smack on the lips when you get back from your vacation!
- I’m here to give you a smack on the lips if you’d be so kind as to oblige.
- I need a smack on the lips; otherwise, I think I might faint!
X-X-X
You’ve probably used this one yourself to some extent. It’s a really common onomatopoeia word in texting, which is present throughout the world. You might benefit from learning more about it and why we use it as the sound that kissing makes.
While “X-X-X” is mostly read as three “X” letters, we can associate the sound that “X” makes with the sound of kissing. The end syllable of the “X” (the “cks” sound) is the most likely candidate for how a kiss should sound.
The last noise of the “X” is similar to the lip-smacking sound we mentioned earlier. That’s why so many people use “X-X-X” or some variation of it when texting people and sending them kisses.
You could use “X-X-X” as follows:
- Thank you for being here for me today, x-x-x.
- I really needed that, and I’ll never be able to thank you enough, x-x-x.
- Come here and see your granny, x-x-x.
- It’s me! I can’t believe how long it’s been, but I’m so glad to see you again, x-x-x.
Umma
This one is the least common on the list, but it is tied back to the Indian language, and it’s an onomatopoeia word they’ve come up with that’s very reminiscent of how a kiss actually sounds.
“Umma” is an onomatopoeic word that’s common in certain Indian dialects. It uses the “um” sound to show two lips connecting and the “ma” sound to show them moving apart (and finishing the kiss).
As we’ve said, coming up with a truly authentic kiss onomatopoeia word is difficult. That’s why “umma” is used by certain dialects which have tried to come up with their own.
Other languages have also tried to come up with their own variations, and no one can agree on the exact best one. We wanted to touch on this variation briefly because we believe the “umma” sound is very close to matching how a kiss sounds.
You could see “umma” in the following:
- Umma! I’m so glad you’re back after all of that time away.
- Umma! I’m such a proud mother!
- Umma! You deserve everything you got today and so much more!
- Umma! I will never tire of kissing your lips.
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