phonemenoun [ C ]
uk/ˈfəʊ.niːm/us/ˈfoʊ.niːm/specializedone of the smallest units of speech that make one word different from another word:
The difference between "pin" and "pan" depends on the vowel, i.e. the different phonemes /ɪ/ and /æ/.
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grapheme
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Linguistics: phonology & phonetics
- alveolar
- approximant
- articulatory
- aspiration
- assimilation
- bilabial
- clear l
- clipped
- consonant
- nasalization
- onomatopoeia
- palatal
- palato-alveolar
- pharyngeal
- phonemic
- pronounce
- silent letter
- voiced
- vowel
- weak form
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