What is the word for a light thud that a letter makes when dropped into a wooden mailbox?
2 Answers
I found these results after doing a Google search on "envelope landed with a"
:
- thud (7)
- soft thud (5)
- dull thud (3)
- thump (1)
- soft thump (1)
- schlap (1)
- thwack (1)
- clunk (1)
- clink (1)
- tap (1)
The ones I think are most appropriate for a wooden mailbox would be:
- thud, thump, tap, thwack
Other candidate words might include:
- knock, rap, tick
and here are some adjectives you might consider:
- muffled, quiet, quick, soft, dull, muted, faint
leading to several possible combinations, such as:
- soft tick, muffled tap, dull knock, faint thwack, quiet rap, quick thump, muted thud
Depends, I suppose, on what the mailbox is made of, what it's attached to, and how tightly coupled the two are.
Candidates that leap to mind include:
tok
thock
thunk
chink
ktang
thwock
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These are not words in wide currency. I forgot to say this but it is made of wood, the mailbox.– user4550Commented May 3, 2014 at 5:53
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2Of these "thunk" has the widest currency, though it might not be light enough for your purpose. Commented May 3, 2014 at 7:03
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A native speaker in this circumstance (not having exactly the right pre-existing word for a sound) will in fact invent an onomatopoeia, btw. This is one small way that English got into the general mess it's in. Commented May 3, 2014 at 7:05
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The onomatopoeia could be 'dub' the second sound of the heartbeat.– Maulik VCommented May 3, 2014 at 8:21
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@Codeswitcher How about plop? It might relate to water, but I think it could apply to the sound something light dropped on a surface as well. Commented May 3, 2014 at 8:37