phonetic
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phonetic
- /fəˈnɛt.ɪk/
- [fəˈnɛɾ.ɪk] Canada, US
- [fəˈneɾ.ɪk] Australia, New Zealand
Sounds like phenetic, fanatic (only in certain topolects with the met–mat merger)
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Latin phōnēticus, from Ancient Greek φωνητῐκός (phōnētĭkós). By surface analysis, phone + -etic.
adjective
- Relating to the sounds of spoken language.
- Relating to phones (as opposed to phonemes).
- Relating to the spoken rather than written form of a word or name, as opposed to orthographic. All unfamiliar names have been transcribed in phonetic spelling.
noun phonetics
- 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). I suspect that 田 dien is the original character and true phonetic of the whole group.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: auditory, aural, code, sound, oral, phonic, phonemic, phonological, articulatory, acoustic, sonic, vocal, spoken, vocalic, sonant, phonatory
Translations
Every language
adj relating to sounds of spoken language
| Español | fonético |
|---|---|
| Português | fonético |
| Français | phonétique |
| Deutsch | phonetisch |
| Italiano | fonetico |
| Ελληνικά | φωνητικός fonitikós |
| Română | fonetic |
| Русский | фонети́ческий fonetíčeskij |
adj linguistics: relating to phones
| Español | fonético |
|---|---|
| Português | fonético |
| Français | phonétique |
| Deutsch | phonetisch |
| Română | fonetic |
noun component of a phono-semantic compound that indicates pronunciation
| 日本語 | 音符 onpu |
|---|---|
| 中文 | 聲旁 /声旁 shēngpáng, 聲符 /声符 shēngfú, 形聲偏旁 /形声偏旁 xíngshēng piānpáng |
Talk about this word "phonetic." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/phonetic. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. phonetic. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/phonetic "phonetic." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/phonetic.Cite this
@misc{phonetic_2026,
title = {phonetic},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/phonetic},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}