Onomatopoeia for howling (2025)

Hello, everyone!

My question is: what written word could I use to represent dogs' or wolves' howling? For example, the voice of cat is written like "meow", but what would represent howling the best? I would write something like "a-oooooo", but I have never encountered something like that, so it looks suspicious.

I am not a native speaker of English, so I have some problems relating written words to sounds. I would appreciate any help.

Thank you in advance.

Hi Lilium

I thought this Wiki site might help, but it doesn't, although it covers a large number of animal noises.

I don't think there is a standard way of representing a howl

That said, "howl" is, of course, itself onomatopoeic...

Loob

Excellent link, Cagey!

Loob

Any of those would do nicely. You could add an extra 'o' or two to any of them, if you wish. Or delete an 'o' or two.

In other words, there is no standard way to spell any of them.

Thanks, heypresto.

By the way, the last one: 'aah-oooooooh' has a hyphen? Why is it the only one using it and it is absolutely neccesary?

I've no idea, I'm afraid. These 'words' are made up. They don't have standard spellings. It wouldn't surprise me if nobody had ever used them before.

It's entirely up to you how you spell them, as long as they achieve the sound effect you are aiming for. Be creative.

I think all those examples would make me halt my reading to figure out what it sounded like. On the other hand, "howl" would allow me to read on and not really cost any realism.

In fact I think I have only ever seen "howl" and "song" to represent the sound a wolf makes.

Lilium said:

Hello, everyone!

My question is: what written word could I use to represent dogs' or wolves' howling? For example, the voice of cat is written like "meow", but what would represent howling the best? I would write something like "a-oooooo", but I have never encountered something like that, so it looks suspicious.

I am not a native speaker of English, so I have some problems relating written words to sounds. I would appreciate any help.

Thank you in advance.

Click to expand...

I’d like to add to the mix. I encountered the same problem, writing a novel. That’s how I found you guys. Prior to seeing the Scrivener’s version, I wrote, “Aww-ooh!”— (as dialogue). I write science fiction/romance/horror genres. My concept of a werewolf is similar to a natural wolf, only larger in size, possessing human/wolf sentience.