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

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

But even the wax phonogram may be used over and over again, hundreds of times, without diminishing the fidelity of the reproduction.

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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