chereme

[ker-eem]

noun Linguistics.

any of a small set of elements, analogous to the phoneme in speech, proposed as the basic structural units by which the signs of a sign language are represented, and including the handshapes, hand movements, and locations of the hands in relation to the body employed in a particular sign language.

Compare allocher.

Origin of chereme

irregular < Greek cheír hand (cf. chiro-) + -eme; coined by U.S. linguist William C. Stokoe (born 1919) in 1960

Related formsche·re·mic

[kuh-ree-mik, ke-] /kəˈri mɪk, kɛ-/, adjective