phonetic

[fuh-net-ik, foh-]

adjective

Also pho·net·i·cal. of or relating to speech sounds, their production, or their transcription in written symbols.
corresponding to pronunciation: phonetic transcription.
agreeing with pronunciation: phonetic spelling.

concerning or involving the discrimination of nondistinctive elements of a language. In English, certain phonological features, as length and aspiration, are phonetic but not phonemic.

noun

(in Chinese writing) a written element that represents a sound and is used in combination with a radical to form a character.

Origin of phonetic

1820–30; < New Latin phōnēticus < Greek phōnētikós vocal, equivalent to phōnēt(ós) to be spoken (verbid of phōneîn to speak) + -ikos -ic

Related formspho·net·i·cal·ly, adverbnon·pho·net·ic, adjectivenon·pho·net·i·cal, adjectivenon·pho·net·i·cal·ly, adverbun·pho·net·ic, adjectiveun·pho·net·i·cal, adjectiveun·pho·net·i·cal·ly, adverb

Can be confusedfanatic phonetic

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for phonetically

Contemporary Examples of phonetically

Kanji are a system of Japanese writing using Chinese characters to phonetically represent names.
Mysteries Continue to Swirl Around the Identity of Bitcoin’s Creator
Jake Adelstein
March 11, 2014

Historical Examples of phonetically

Various attempts appear to have been made to represent this phonetically.
Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete
Samuel Pepys
I have not the least idea of their meaning; so I have only been able to render them phonetically.
The Club of Queer Trades
G. K. Chesterton
Phonetically spelt, they might lose the last traces of any such story.
All Things Considered
G. K. Chesterton
Poking a young bird was sufficient to elicit this sound, phonetically a nasal peek.
Natural History of the Bell Vireo, Vireo bellii Audubon
Jon C. Barlow
Again, many of the signs have more than one syllabic value, and they may be used as ideograms as well as phonetically.
Myths & Legends of Babylonia & Assyria
Lewis Spence

British Dictionary definitions for phonetically

phonetic

adjective

of or relating to phonetics
denoting any perceptible distinction between one speech sound and another, irrespective of whether the sounds are phonemes or allophonesCompare phonemic (def. 2)
conforming to pronunciationphonetic spelling

Derived Formsphonetically, adverb

Word Origin for phonetic

C19: from New Latin phōnēticus, from Greek phōnētikos, from phōnein to make sounds, speak

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 phonetically

phonetic

adj.

"representing vocal sounds," 1803, from Modern Latin phoneticus (1797), from Greek phonetikos "vocal," from phonetos "to be spoken, utterable," verbal adjective of phonein "to speak clearly, utter," from phone "sound, voice" (see fame (n.)).

phonetically in Medicine

phonetic

[fə-nĕt′ĭk]

adj.

Of or relating to phonetics.
Representing the sounds of speech with a set of distinct symbols, each designating a single sound.