This shows grade level based on the word's complexity.
allophone
[ al-uh-fohn ]
/ ˈæl əˌfoʊn /
See the most commonly confused word associated with phoneme
Save This Word!
This shows grade level based on the word's complexity.
noun Phonetics.
any of the members of a class of speech sounds that, taken together, are commonly felt to be a phoneme, as the t-sounds of toe, stow, tree, hatpin, catcall, cats, catnip, button, metal, city; a speech sound constituting one of the phonetic manifestations or variants of a particular phoneme.
COMPARE MEANINGS
Click for a side-by-side comparison of meanings. Use the word comparison feature to learn the differences between similar and commonly confused words.
QUIZ
CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?
There are grammar debates that never die; and the ones highlighted in the questions in this quiz are sure to rile everyone up once again. Do you know how to answer the questions that cause some of the greatest grammar debates?
Question 1 of 7
Which sentence is correct?
OTHER WORDS FROM allophone
al·lo·phon·ic [al-uh-fon-ik], /ˌæl əˈfɒn ɪk/, adjectiveal·lo·phon·i·cal·ly, adverbWords nearby allophone
allopathy, allopatric, allopelagic, allophanamide, allophane, allophone, allophylian, alloplasm, alloplasty, allopolyploid, allopurinol
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
British Dictionary definitions for allophone
allophone
/ (ˈæləˌfəʊn) /
noun
any of several speech sounds that are regarded as contextual or environmental variants of the same phoneme. In English the aspirated initial (p) in pot and the unaspirated (p) in spot are allophones of the phoneme /p/
Canadian a Canadian whose native language is neither French nor English
Derived forms of allophone
allophonic (ˌæləˈfɒnɪk), adjectiveCollins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012