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Definition of phonetic - 5 dictionary results

pho⋅net⋅ic

  [fuh-net-ik, foh-]
Use phonetic in a Sentence
–adjective
1. Also, pho⋅net⋅i⋅cal. of or pertaining to speech sounds, their production, or their transcription in written symbols.
2. corresponding to pronunciation: phonetic transcription.
3. agreeing with pronunciation: phonetic spelling.
4. concerning or involving the discrimination of nondistinctive elements of a language. In English, certain phonological features, as length and aspiration, are phonetic but not phonemic.
–noun
5. (in Chinese writing) a written element that represents a sound and is used in combination with a radical to form a character.
Origin:
1820–30; < NL phōnēticus < Gk phōnētikós vocal, equiv. to phōnēt(ós) to be spoken (verbid of phōneîn to speak) + -ikos -ic

Related forms:
pho⋅net⋅i⋅cal⋅ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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pho·net·ic   (fə-nět'ĭk)   
adj.  

  1. Of or relating to phonetics.

  2. Representing the sounds of speech with a set of distinct symbols, each designating a single sound: phonetic spelling.

  3. Of, relating to, or being features of pronunciation that are not phonemically distinctive in a language, as aspiration of consonants or vowel length in English.


[New Latin phōnēticus, representing speech sounds, from Greek phōnētikos, vocal, from phōnētos, to be spoken, from phōnein, to produce a sound, from phōnē, sound, voice; see bhā-2 in Indo-European roots.]
pho·net'i·cal adj., pho·net'i·cal·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

phonetic 
"representing vocal sounds," 1826, from Mod.L. phoneticus (1797), from Gk. phonetikos "vocal," from phonetos "to be spoken, utterable," verbal adj. of phonein "to speak clearly, utter," from phone "sound, voice" (see fame). Phonetics "scientific study of speech" formed in Eng. 1841.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: pho·net·ic
Pronunciation: f&-'net-ik
Function: adjective
1 a : of or relating to spoken language or speech sounds b : of or relating to the science of phonetics
2 : representing the sounds and other phenomena of speech —pho·net·i·cal·ly /-i-k(&-)lE/ adverb
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

phonetic pho·net·ic (fə-nět'ĭk)
adj.

  1. Of or relating to phonetics.

  2. Representing the sounds of speech with a set of distinct symbols, each designating a single sound.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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