Transcription
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- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
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- [foh-neem]
- /ˈfoʊ nim/
- /ˈfəʊ.niːm/
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- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
-
- [foh-neem]
- /ˈfoʊ nim/
Definition of phonemes word
- noun phonemes any of a small set of units, usually about 20 to 60 in number, and different for each language, considered to be the basic distinctive units of speech sound by which morphemes, words, and sentences are represented. They are arrived at for any given language by determining which differences in sound function to indicate a difference in meaning, so that in English the difference in sound and meaning between pit and bit is taken to indicate the existence of different labial phonemes, while the difference in sound between the unaspirated p of spun and the aspirated p of pun, since it is never the only distinguishing feature between two different words, is not taken as ground for setting up two different p phonemes in English. Compare distinctive feature (def 1). 1
Information block about the term
Origin of phonemes
First appearance:
before 1890 One of the 20% newest English words
1890-95; < French phonème < Greek phṓnēma sound, equivalent to phōnē-, verbid stem of phōneîn to make a sound (derivative of phonḗ sound, voice) + -ma noun suffix denoting result of action
Historical Comparancy
Parts of speech for Phonemes
noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
phonemes popularity
A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 81% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.
This word is included in each student's vocabulary. Most likely there is at least one movie with this word in the title.
phonemes usage trend in Literature
This diagram is provided by Google Ngram ViewerSynonyms for phonemes
noun phonemes
- alphabet — An alphabet is a set of letters usually presented in a fixed order which is used for writing the words of a particular language or group of languages.
- hieroglyph — Also, hieroglyphical. designating or pertaining to a pictographic script, particularly that of the ancient Egyptians, in which many of the symbols are conventionalized, recognizable pictures of the things represented.
- ideograph — an ideogram.
- ideographs — an ideogram.
- morpheme — any of the minimal grammatical units of a language, each constituting a word or meaningful part of a word, that cannot be divided into smaller independent grammatical parts, as the, write, or the -ed of waited. Compare allomorph (def 2), morph (def 1).
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See also
Matching words
- Words starting with p
- Words starting with ph
- Words starting with pho
- Words starting with phon
- Words starting with phone
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