allophone

[ al-uh-fohn ]

/ ˈæl əˌfoʊn /

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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.

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His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Origin of allophone

First recorded in 1930–35; allo- + phone²

OTHER WORDS FROM allophone

al·lo·phon·ic

[al-uh-fon-ik], /ˌæl əˈfɒn ɪk/, adjectiveal·lo·phon·i·cal·ly, adverb

Words nearby allophone

allopathy, allopatric, allopelagic, allophanamide, allophane, allophone, allophylian, alloplasm, alloplasty, allopolyploid, allopurinol

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), adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012