Splat is the sound something makes when it hits a surface and spreads out messily, like a water balloon smacking against a wall or a pancake dropping onto a hot griddle. The word captures both the noise and the action: splat!

You might hear a splat when a tomato hits the pavement, when your little brother belly-flops into a pool, or when paint spills and spreads across the floor. The word perfectly mimics what it describes: that wet, flat, spreading impact.

Artists and cartoonists love using splat because it instantly tells you what happened. Comic books show paint cans going splat on villains, and video games display splat when characters crash into things.

As a verb, you can say something splats or splatted: “The egg splatted on the kitchen floor.” Next time you see something wet or soft hit a surface and spread out in all directions, you'll know the perfect word for it.