phonogram

American  

[foh-nuh-gram] / ˈfoʊ nəˌgræm /

noun

1. Linguistics. a symbol that represents a speech sound, syllable, or other sequence of speech sounds without reference to meaning, such as a letter in the Latin alphabet.

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phonogram British  

/ ˈfəʊnəˌɡræm /

noun

1. any written symbol standing for a sound, syllable, morpheme, or word

2. a sequence of written symbols having the same sound in a variety of different words, for example, ough in bought, ought, and brought

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Other Word Forms

• phonogramic
  adjective
• phonogrammic
  adjective
• phonogramically
  adverb
• phonogrammically
  adverb

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Etymology

Origin of phonogram

First recorded in 1855–60; phono- + -gram ¹

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

phonogram

The musical accompaniment is provided by a recorded phonogram synthesizer.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 14, 2021

Some ten years after the late Thomas Alva Edison first recorded the human voice* on tinfoil in 1877, he sent the foregoing jingly "phonogram," on a wax cylinder, to Colonel George E. Gouraud in London.

From Time Magazine Archive

Pupils know the phonogram "ark," learned when the following list of words was pronounced: bark, dark, hark, lark, mark, park, shark, etc.

From How to Teach Phonics by Lida M. Williams

This picture writing or hieroglyphic was well developed and in the phonogram stage about 5000 B.C.

From Books Before Typography A Primer of Information About the Invention of the Alphabet and the History of Book-Making up to the Invention of Movable Types Typographic Technical Series for Apprentices #49 by Frederick W. (Frederick William) Hamilton

The phonogram does not wear out by use.

From Buchanan's Journal of Man, December 1887 Volume 1, Number 11 by Joseph R. (Joseph Rodes) Buchanan

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