phonetic
[fəˈnɛɾ.ɪk]
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.02 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Relating to the sounds of spoken language.
adj
Relating to phones (as opposed to phonemes).
adj
Relating to the spoken rather than written form of a word or name, as opposed to orthographic.
noun
In such writing systems as the Chinese writing system, the portion of a phono-semantic character that provides an indication of its pronunciation; contrasted with semantic (which is usually the radical).
Example Sentences
- "All unfamiliar names have been transcribed in phonetic spelling."
- "I suspect that 田 dien is the original character and true phonetic of the whole group."
- "In the first case the character is pronounced identically, even as to tone, as the phonetic."
- "Or, the semantic may wrap around the phonetic, or position within the phonetic."
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin phōnēticus, from Ancient Greek φωνητῐκός (phōnētĭkós). By surface analysis, phone + -etic.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *bʰeh₂-, φωνητῐκός
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: [fəˈnɛɾ.ɪk]