pho·neme (f  n m )n. The smallest phonetic unit in a language that is capable of conveying a distinction in meaning, as the m of mat and the b of bat in English. [French phonème, from Greek ph nma, phnmat-, utterance, sound produced, from phnein, to produce a sound, from phn, sound, voice; see bh -2 in Indo-European roots.] |
phoneme
Noun
Linguistics one of the set of speech sounds in any given language that serve to distinguish one word from another [Greek phōnēma sound, speech]
phonemic adj
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
| Noun | 1. | phoneme - (linguistics) one of a small set of speech sounds that are distinguished by the speakers of a particular language linguistics - the scientific study of language speech sound, phone, sound - (phonetics) an individual sound unit of speech without concern as to whether or not it is a phoneme of some language allophone - (linguistics) any of various acoustically different forms of the same phoneme |
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