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
• phonogramically adverb
• phonogrammic adjective
• phonogrammically adverb

Etymology

Origin of phonogram

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

Example Sentences

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

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 Hamilton, Frederick W. (Frederick William)

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 Munro, John

The next step forward is the development of the ideogram into the phonogram, or sound sign.

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 Hamilton, Frederick W. (Frederick William)