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definitions

phonemic

[fuh-nee-mik, foh-]
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adjective

of or relating to phonemes: a phonemic system.
of or relating to phonemics.
concerning or involving the discrimination of distinctive speech elements of a language: a phonemic contrast.

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RELATED WORDS

grammatical, lingual, dialectal, phonetic, etymological, lexical, morphological, phonological, syntactical

Nearby words

  1. phonecam,
  2. phonecard,
  3. phonematic,
  4. phonematics,
  5. phoneme,
  6. phonemicize,
  7. phonemics,
  8. phonendoscope,
  9. phoner,
  10. phonesthemic

Origin of phonemic

First recorded in 1930–35; phoneme + -ic
Related formspho·ne·mi·cal·ly, adverbnon·pho·ne·mic, adjectivenon·pho·ne·mi·cal·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for phonemic

British Dictionary definitions for phonemic

phonemic

adjective linguistics

of or relating to the phoneme
relating to or denoting speech sounds that belong to different phonemes rather than being allophonic variants of the same phonemeCompare phonetic (def. 2)
of or relating to phonemics
Derived Formsphonemically, adverb
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
Word Origin and History for phonemic

phonemic

adj.

1933, from phoneme + -ic. Related: Phonemics (1936); phonemically.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper