diaphone

[ dahy-uh-fohn ]

/ ˈdaɪ əˌfoʊn /

noun

a foghorn producing a low-pitched, penetrating signal of two tones.

Phonetics.

a phoneme in one dialect corresponding to a similar but phonetically different phoneme in a related dialect.
a group of sounds comprising all the phonetically different dialectal variants of a given phoneme in a language: The broad a and flat a of “half” are members of a single diaphone.

Nearby words

diaphanometer, diaphanoscope, diaphanoscopy, diaphanous, diaphemetric, diaphone, diaphony, diaphorase, diaphoresis, diaphoretic, diaphototropism

Origin of diaphone

First recorded in 1905–10; dia- + -phone

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for diaphone

In the Pedal department no reed or flue pipe can begin to compare with a Diaphone, either in attack or in volume of tone.
The Recent Revolution in Organ Building|George Laing Miller

British Dictionary definitions for diaphone

diaphone

/ (ˈdaɪəˌfəʊn) /

noun

the set of all realizations of a given phoneme in a language
one of any number of corresponding sounds in different dialects of a language

a foghorn that emits a two-toned signal

Word Origin for diaphone

C20: from dia (lect) + phone ²

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