phonotactic

American

[foh-nuh-tak-tik] / ˌfoʊ nəˈtæk tɪk /

adjective

Linguistics.

of or relating to phonotactics.

Phonotactic constraints in English prevent the occurrence of the consonant clusters (sr) and (dl) at the beginning of words.

First recorded in 1955–60; phono- + tactic

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023