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

Speaking was represented by a phonogram containing a dialogue between Mr. Edison and Colonel Gouraud which had been imprinted some three weeks before in America.

From Heroes of the Telegraph by John Munro

The separate wax tube, P, is a phonogram with the spiral trace of the sounds already printed on its surface, and ready for posting.

From Heroes of the Telegraph by John Munro

I expect that an agreement may be made with the post-office authorities enabling phonogram boxes to be sent at the same rate as a letter.

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

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