acrophony

American  

[uh-krof-uh-nee] / əˈkrɒf ə ni /

noun

acrophonies plural

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.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• acrophonetic
  adjective
• acrophonic
  adjective
• acrophonetically
  adverb
• acrophonically
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• acrophonies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of acrophony

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