phonetic

American  

[fuh-net-ik] / fəˈnɛt ɪk /

adjective

1. Also phonetical of or relating 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.

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noun

1. (in Chinese writing) a written element that represents a sound and is used in combination with a radical to form a character.

phonetic British  

/ fəˈnɛtɪk /

adjective

1. of or relating to phonetics

2. denoting any perceptible distinction between one speech sound and another, irrespective of whether the sounds are phonemes or allophones Compare phonemic

3. conforming to pronunciation

   phonetic spelling

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Other Word Forms

• nonphonetic adjective
• nonphonetical adjective
• phonetically adverb
• unphonetic adjective
• unphonetical adjective

Etymology

Origin of phonetic

First recorded in 1820–30; from New Latin phōnēticus, from Greek phōnētikós “vocal,” equivalent to phōnēt(ós) “to be spoken” (verbid of phōneîn “to speak”) + -ikos adjective suffix; -ic

Example Sentences

For Indigenous people, she became Malintzin, a phonetic rendition of her Christian name.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 25, 2026

It asserts that phonetic dialogue is rarely convincing.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 9, 2026

The description of what the researchers termed a “sperm whale phonetic alphabet” opens the possibility of conveying a much larger variety of information.

From Science Magazine • May 7, 2024

But Shane Gero, a marine biologist at Carleton University in Ottawa and an author of the study, said it’s unclear whether sperm whales similarly turn their phonetic sounds into a language.

From New York Times • May 7, 2024

I had made the first total emotional commitment of my life when I read how the phonetic experts had given these tongueless people a language, newspapers, institutions.

From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright