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
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.
/fəˈnɛt.ɪks/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
[fəˈnɛʔəks]Dublin
[fəˈnɛhəks]Dublin
India, North:/foˈnɛ.ʈɪks/
India, South:/ˈfɵ.nᵻ.ʈɪks/
rhymes with -ɛtɪks
CMU ARPABET:F AH0 N EH1 T IH0 K S
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
The study of the physical sounds of human speech, concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds (phones), and the processes of their physiological production, auditory reception, and neurophysiological perception, and their representation by written symbols.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences
Examples
This dictionary shows the phonetics of the words.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: phonics
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
the branch of acoustics concerned with speech processes including its production and perception and acoustic analysis
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: acoustics
History
Etymology
Etymology tree English phonetic Old English -as Middle English -es English -s English phonetics From phonetic + -s.
Across languages
Translations
86 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Afrikaans:
fonetiek
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Arabic:
صَوْتِيَات
(ṣawtiyāt)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Armenian:
հնչյունաբանություն
(hnčʻyunabanutʻyun)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Asturian:
fonética
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Azerbaijani:
fonetika
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Azerbaijani:
sövtiyyat
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Bashkir:
фонетика
(fonetika)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Bengali:
ধ্বনিবিজ্ঞান
(dhonibiggên)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Bulgarian:
фонетика
(fonetika)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Burmese:
သဒ္ဒဗေဒ
(sadda.beda.)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Catalan:
fonètica
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Chinese Cantonese:
語音學 /语音学
(jyu5 jam1 hok6)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Chinese:
語音學 /语音学
(gír-im-ha̍k)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Chinese Mandarin:
語音學 /语音学
(yǔyīnxué)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Chuvash:
фонетика
(fonet̬ik̬a)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Crimean Tatar:
savtiyat
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Crimean Tatar:
fonetika
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Czech:
fonetika
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Danish:
fonetik
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Dutch:
fonetiek
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Dutch:
klankleer
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Erzya:
фонетика
(fonetika)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Erzya:
гайтьсодамо
(gajťsodamo)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Esperanto:
fonetiko
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Faroese:
ljóðfrøði
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Faroese:
ljóðlæra
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Finnish:
fonetiikka
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Finnish:
ääntöoppi
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
French:
phonétique
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Galician:
fonética
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
German:
Phonetik
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
German:
Lautlehre
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Hindi:
स्वरविज्ञान
(svarvijñān)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Hindi:
स्वनविज्ञान
(svanvijñān)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Hungarian:
fonetika
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Indonesian:
fonetik
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Interlingua:
phonetica
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Irish:
foghraíocht
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Italian:
fonetica
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Japanese:
音声学
(onseigaku)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Kazakh:
фонетика
(fonetika)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Khmer:
សទ្ទិកវិទ្យា
(satti’ak vityie)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Khmer:
សព្ទសញ្ញាវិទ្យា
(sap saññaa vityie)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Korean:
음성학
(eumseonghak)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Korean:
어음학
(eo'eumhak)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Latvian:
fonētika
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Lithuanian:
fonetika
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Macedonian:
фонетика
(fonetika)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Malay:
fonetik
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Malay:
kaji bunyi bahasa
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Manx:
sheeanaghtys
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Mongolian:
авиазүй
(aviazüj)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Mongolian:
ᠠᠪᠢᠶᠠ ᠵᠦᠢ
(abiy-a ǰüi)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
N'Ko:
ߡߍ߲ߞߊ߲ߟߐ߲ߘߐߦߊ
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Norwegian Bokmål:
fonetikk
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Occitan:
fonetica
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Persian:
آواشناسی
(âvâšenâsi)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Persian:
صوتیات
(sowtiyyât)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Polish:
fonetyka
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Portuguese:
fonética
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Romanian:
fonetică
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Russian:
фоне́тика
(fonɛ́tika)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Santali:
ᱟᱲᱟᱝ ᱥᱟᱬᱮᱥ
(aṛaṅ saṇes)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Serbo-Croatian:
фонѐтика
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Serbo-Croatian:
fonètika
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Sindhi:
وايوڪيات
(vāeokyāt)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Slovak:
fonetika
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Slovene:
fonetika
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Spanish:
fonética
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Swahili:
fonetiki
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Swedish:
fonetik
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Tagalog:
palatinigan
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Tajik:
савтиёт
(savtiyot)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Tajik:
фонетика
(fonetika)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Tamil:
ஒலியியல்
(oliyiyal)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Tamil:
ஒலிப்பியல்
(olippiyal)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Thai:
สัทศาสตร์
(sàt-tá-sàat)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Turkish:
sesbilgisi
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Turkish:
fonetik
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Ukrainian:
фоне́тика
(fonétyka)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Urdu:
صَوْتِیَّاتْ
(savtiyyāt)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Uzbek:
savtiyot
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Uzbek:
fonetika
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Vietnamese:
ngữ âm học
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Welsh:
seineg
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
Yiddish:
פֿאָנעטיק
(fonetik)
— study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols
