intj · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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1
intj
Meaning 1
Representing a protracted sound of thundering or crashing.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: humorous, nonce-word, onomatopoeic
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
Coined by Irish novelist and poet James Joyce in the 1939 novel Finnegans Wake (see quote) as a sequence of syllables representing the sound of a thunderclap associated with the fall of Adam and Eve. The word is one of ten "thunderwords" in the book. Most commentators agree that the term is an amalgam of the words for "thunder" in several different languages: Details Suggestions by those other than McHugh are given in parentheses. * "bababadal": N/A, (Babel) * "gharaghta": Hindi गरज (garaj), (Hindi गड़गड़ाहट (gaṛagṛāhaṭ)) * "kamminarr": Japanese 雷 (kaminari) * "onnkonn": (Finnish ukkonen) * "bronn(to)": Ancient Greek βροντάω (brontáō) and Greek βροντάω (vrontáo) * "(to)nnerronn": French tonnerre * "tuonn": Italian tuono * "thunn": Old Romanian tun, (Scots thunner) * "trovarr": Portuguese trovão * "hounawnskawn": Swedish åska * "toohoohoordenen": Danish tordenen * "thurnuk": Irish toirneach