Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

phonaesthesia

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables: phonaes-the-sia
IPA

21

Scrabble Score

13

Letters

3

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Any correspondence between the sound of a word and its meaning; examples include onomatopoeia and the use of phonesthemes.

Uncountable

Example Sentences

"For this latter term, phonaesthesia is doubtless at work, since kring is also ‘the sound of a small bell’."
"In contrast, writers of bucolic dialogues, like George Meriton, for instance, and lively song-writers like Robert Anderson in Cumberland, seem drawn to expressive lexis, marked by sound patterns of reduplication, alliteration and phonaesthesia."
"Phonaesthesia refers to the vaguer phenomenon whereby families of words with shared phonemes sometimes evoke related meanings in a not-quite-echoic manner."
"Those in (1.15) illustrate a weaker type of iconicity, generally known as phonaesthesia: the consonant cluster ‘fl’ seems to suggest quick movement, but it is not a direct representation of movement, or speed."

Etymology

Apparently coined by British linguist John Rupert Firth. From phon- + -aesthesia.

Usage

Uncountable

Inflected Forms

phonesthesia (alternative)

Derived Forms

phonaesthetic phonaesthetics

Frequently Paired Words

ideophone phonaestheme

Synonyms

sound symbolism

Questions

What does phonaesthesia mean?: Any correspondence between the sound of a word and its meaning; examples include onomatopoeia and the use of phonesthemes.
Where does phonaesthesia come from?: Apparently coined by British linguist John Rupert Firth. From phon- + -aesthesia.

How to pronounce phonaesthesia

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