curiousI noticed some time ago that there are a variety of onomatopoetic words in German for "to rain" which I find very pretty.
Here's the ones I found (and I hope I got the IPA transcription right. Correct me if I got things wrong):
- Pladdern ['pladɐn], very strong rain, "to rain cats and dogs", fairly big drops,
- prasseln ['pʁasəln], also strong rain, smaller drops than with "pladdern",
- gießen ['gisən], strong rain, also "to pour", "to water flowers",
- sprühen ['ʃpʁy:ən], to spray,
- tropfen ['tʁɔpfən], to drip, not really used for rain, I suppose, but rather for when drops drip of things,
- pieseln ['pi:zəln], a light rain that's barely there, also means "to pee", and
- nieseln ['ni:zəln], similar to "piseln", very small drops.