Standard Lemma guide

euphony

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈjuːfəni/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: Y UW1 F AH0 N IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A pronunciation of letters and syllables which is pleasing to the ear.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • When I hear you speak, I hear beautiful euphony.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: euphonism

Antonyms: cacophony

2

noun

Meaning 2

The tendency to make phonetic change for ease of pronunciation.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

any agreeable (pleasing and harmonious) sounds

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he fell asleep to the music of the wind chimes

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: music

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: sound, auditory sensation

Narrower terms: music of the spheres

History

Etymology

From French euphonie, from Ancient Greek εὐφωνία (euphōnía), from εὐ- (eu-, prefix meaning ‘good, well’) + φωνή (phōnḗ, “sound; (human) voice; discourse, speech”) (from Proto-Indo-European *bheh2- (“to say, speak”)) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). The English word is analysable as eu- + -phony.

Across languages

Translations

22 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: eufoni — pronunciation which is pleasing to the ear
  • Chinese Mandarin: 悅耳 /悦耳 (yuè'ěr) — pronunciation which is pleasing to the ear
  • Czech: eufonie — pronunciation which is pleasing to the ear
  • Czech: libozvučnost — pronunciation which is pleasing to the ear
  • Finnish: eufonia — pronunciation which is pleasing to the ear
  • Galician: eufonía — pronunciation which is pleasing to the ear
  • German: Eufonie — pronunciation which is pleasing to the ear
  • Hungarian: jóhangzás — pronunciation which is pleasing to the ear
  • Hungarian: eufónia — pronunciation which is pleasing to the ear
  • Hungarian: jó/szép/kellemes hangzás — pronunciation which is pleasing to the ear
  • Hungarian: széphangzás — pronunciation which is pleasing to the ear
  • Italian: eufonia — pronunciation which is pleasing to the ear
  • Polish: eufonia — pronunciation which is pleasing to the ear
  • Portuguese: eufonia — pronunciation which is pleasing to the ear
  • Romanian: eufonie — pronunciation which is pleasing to the ear
  • Bulgarian: благозвучие (blagozvučie) — pleasant phonetic quality
  • Chinese Mandarin: 諧音 /谐音 (xiéyīn) — pleasant phonetic quality
  • Finnish: eufonia — pleasant phonetic quality
  • Galician: eufonía — pleasant phonetic quality
  • German: Eufonie — pleasant phonetic quality
  • Portuguese: eufonia — pleasant phonetic quality
  • Romanian: eufonie — pleasant phonetic quality