noun · 2 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
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Received-Pronunciation:/ˈfəʊ.niːm/
General-American:/ˈfoʊ.nim/
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
rhymes with -əʊniːm
CMU ARPABET:F OW1 N IY0 M
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
An indivisible unit of sound in a given language. A phoneme is an abstraction of the physical speech sounds (phones) and may encompass several different phones.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: syntagma
2
noun
Meaning 2
(linguistics) one of a small set of speech sounds that are distinguished by the speakers of a particular language
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: phone, speech sound, sound
Narrower terms: allophone
History
Etymology
From Ancient Greek φώνημα (phṓnēma, “sound”), from φωνέω (phōnéō, “to sound”), from φωνή (phōnḗ, “sound”). By surface analysis, phone (“speech sound”) + -eme (“unit”).
Across languages
Translations
83 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Albanian:
fonemë
— indivisible unit of sound
Arabic:
فُونِيم
(fōnēm)
— indivisible unit of sound
Arabic:
صَوْت لُغَوِيّ
(ṣawt luḡawiyy)
— indivisible unit of sound
Armenian:
հնչույթ
(hnčʻuytʻ)
— indivisible unit of sound
Asturian:
fonema
— indivisible unit of sound
Belarusian:
фане́ма
(fanjéma)
— indivisible unit of sound
Belarusian:
фанэ́ма
(fanéma)
— indivisible unit of sound
Breton:
soniad
— indivisible unit of sound
Bulgarian:
фоне́ма
(fonéma)
— indivisible unit of sound
Catalan:
fonema
— indivisible unit of sound
Cebuano:
ponema
— indivisible unit of sound
Chinese Cantonese:
音素
— indivisible unit of sound
Chinese Cantonese:
音位
— indivisible unit of sound
Chinese:
音素
(im-sò͘)
— indivisible unit of sound
Chinese Mandarin:
音素
(yīnsù)
— indivisible unit of sound
Chinese Mandarin:
音位
(yīnwèi)
— indivisible unit of sound
Czech:
foném
— indivisible unit of sound
Danish:
fonem
— indivisible unit of sound
Dutch:
foneem
— indivisible unit of sound
Esperanto:
fonemo
— indivisible unit of sound
Estonian:
foneem
— indivisible unit of sound
Finnish:
foneemi
— indivisible unit of sound
French:
phonème
— indivisible unit of sound
Galician:
fonema
— indivisible unit of sound
Georgian:
ბგერა
(bgera)
— indivisible unit of sound
German:
Phonem
— indivisible unit of sound
Greek:
φώνημα
(fónima)
— indivisible unit of sound
Gujarati:
ધ્વનિઘટક
(dhvanighṭak)
— indivisible unit of sound
Hindi:
स्वनिम
(svanim)
— indivisible unit of sound
Hungarian:
fonéma
— indivisible unit of sound
Icelandic:
hljóðan
— indivisible unit of sound
Ido:
fonemo
— indivisible unit of sound
Interlingua:
phonema
— indivisible unit of sound
Italian:
fonema
— indivisible unit of sound
Japanese:
音素
(onso)
— indivisible unit of sound
Kannada:
ಧ್ವನಿಮಾ
(dhvanimā)
— indivisible unit of sound
Khmer:
សទ្ទតា
(sattĕəʼtaa)
— indivisible unit of sound
Khmer:
សទ្ទភូត
(sattĕəʼ phuut)
— indivisible unit of sound
Korean:
음소
(eumso)
— indivisible unit of sound
Korean:
표음
(pyoeum)
— indivisible unit of sound
Korean:
낱소리
(natsori)
— indivisible unit of sound
Northern Kurdish:
vac
— indivisible unit of sound
Latin:
phōnēma
— indivisible unit of sound
Latvian:
fonēma
— indivisible unit of sound
Lithuanian:
fonema
— indivisible unit of sound
Malay:
fonem
— indivisible unit of sound
Malay:
warna bunyi
— indivisible unit of sound
Manx:
myn-heean
— indivisible unit of sound
Māori:
oromotu
— indivisible unit of sound
Marathi:
ध्वनिघटक
(dhvanighṭak)
— indivisible unit of sound
Mongolian:
авиалбар
(avialbar)
— indivisible unit of sound
Mongolian:
фонем
(fonem)
— indivisible unit of sound
Mongolian:
ᠠᠪᠢᠶᠠᠯᠪᠤᠷᠢ
(abiyalburi)
— indivisible unit of sound
Mongolian:
ᠹᠣᠨᠧᠮ
(fonēm)
— indivisible unit of sound
Occitan:
fonèma
— indivisible unit of sound
Persian:
واج
(vâj)
— indivisible unit of sound
Polish:
fonem
— indivisible unit of sound
Portuguese:
fonema
— indivisible unit of sound
Romanian:
fonem
— indivisible unit of sound
Russian:
фоне́ма
(fonéma)
— indivisible unit of sound
Serbo-Croatian:
фо̀не̄м
— indivisible unit of sound
Serbo-Croatian:
фоне́ма
— indivisible unit of sound
Serbo-Croatian:
fònēm
— indivisible unit of sound
Serbo-Croatian:
fonéma
— indivisible unit of sound
Sicilian:
funima
— indivisible unit of sound
Sindhi:
وايوم
(viome)
— indivisible unit of sound
Slovak:
fonéma
— indivisible unit of sound
Slovene:
fonem
— indivisible unit of sound
Slovene:
glásnik
— indivisible unit of sound
Lower Sorbian:
fonem
— indivisible unit of sound
Upper Sorbian:
fonem
— indivisible unit of sound
Spanish:
fonema
— indivisible unit of sound
Swahili:
fonimu
— indivisible unit of sound
Swedish:
fonem
— indivisible unit of sound
Tagalog:
multinig
— indivisible unit of sound
Tamil:
ஒலியன்
(oliyaṉ)
— indivisible unit of sound
Thai:
หน่วยเสียง
(nùai-sǐiang)
— indivisible unit of sound
Tibetan:
མ་སྒྲ
(ma sgra)
— indivisible unit of sound
Turkish:
sesbirim
— indivisible unit of sound
Ukrainian:
фоне́ма
(fonéma)
— indivisible unit of sound
Vietnamese:
âm vị
— indivisible unit of sound
Walloon:
oyon
— indivisible unit of sound
Yiddish:
פֿאָנעם
(fonem)
— indivisible unit of sound
