acrophony

[ uh-krof-uh-nee ]

noun

, plural a·croph·o·nies.

1. the use of what was originally a logogram as a phonetic symbol for the initial sound of the word the logogram represented, as, in Semitic writing, the use of a picture of a shepherd's crook to represent the sound (l), the first sound of lamed, the Hebrew word for a shepherd's crook.
2. the use of a word as the name of the alphabetic symbol representing the initial sound of that word.

Other Words From

• ac·ro·phon·ic [ak-r, uh, -, fon, -ik], ac·ro·pho·net·ic [ak-r, uh, -f, uh, -, net, -ik], adjective
• acro·phoni·cal·ly acro·pho·neti·cal·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of acrophony¹

First recorded in 1880–85; acro- + -phony