Standard Lemma guide

phonology

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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /fəˈnɒləd͡ʒi/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /fəˈnɑləd͡ʒi/
  • General-American: /foʊ-/
  • Canada, dialectal: /fəˈnɒləd͡ʒi/ of the US
  • Australian: /fəˈnɔləd͡ʒi/
  • New-Zealand: /fəˈnɒləd͡ʒi/
  • New-Zealand: [fəˈnɔ̟ləd͡ʒi]
  • homophone: phenology (one pronunciation)
  • rhymes with -ɒlədʒi
  • CMU ARPABET: F AH0 N AA1 L AH0 JH IY2 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The study of the way sounds function in languages, including accent, intonation, phonemes, stress, and syllable structure, and which sounds are distinctive units within a language; (countable) the way sounds function within a given language; a phonological system.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: orthoepy, soundlore

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The study of the way components of signs function in a sign language, and which components are distinctive units within the language; (countable) the way components of signs function within a given sign language.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly, uncountable

Qualifier: sign language

Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

the study of the sound system of a given language and the analysis and classification of its phonemes

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: phonemics

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: descriptive linguistics

Narrower terms: orthoepy

History

Etymology

From phono- (prefix denoting sound) + -logy (suffix denoting a branch of learning, or a study of a particular subject).

Across languages

Translations

145 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: fonologie — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Albanian: fonologji — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Arabic: فُونُولُوجِيَّا (funulujiyyā) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Arabic: عِلْمُ ٱلْأَصْوَاتِ ٱللُّغَوِيَّةِ (ʕilmu l-ʔaṣwāti l-luḡawiyyati) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Arabic: اَلتَّصْرِيفُ ٱلصَّوْتِيُّ (at-taṣrīfu ṣ-ṣawtiyyu) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Arabic: نُطْقِيَّات (nuṭqiyyāt) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Armenian: հնչույթաբանություն (hnčʻuytʻabanutʻyun) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Assamese: ধ্বনিতত্ত্ব (dhonitottto) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Asturian: fonoloxía — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Azerbaijani: fonologiya — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Bashkir: фонология (fonologiya) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Basque: fonologia — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Belarusian: фанало́гія (fanalóhija) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Bengali: ধ্বনিতত্ত্ব (dhonitotto) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Central Bikol: ponolohiya — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Breton: fonologiezh — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Bulgarian: фоноло́гия (fonológija) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Burmese: ဝါစဿရဗေဒ (waca.ssa.ra.beda.) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Catalan: fonologia — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Cebuano: ponolohiya — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Chechen: фонологи (fonologi) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Chinese Mandarin: 音位學 /音位学 (yīnwèixué) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Chinese Mandarin: 音系學 /音系学 (yīnxìxué) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Chinese Mandarin: 音韻學 /音韵学 (yīnyùnxué) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Chuvash: фонологи (fonologi) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Czech: fonologie — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Danish: fonologi — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Dutch: klankleer — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Esperanto: fonologio — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Estonian: fonoloogia — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Extremaduran: fonolohia — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Faroese: ljóðskipanarlæra — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Finnish: fonologia — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • French: phonologie — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Saterland Frisian: phonologie — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • West-Frisian: fonology — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • West-Frisian: klanklear — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • West-Frisian: lûdlear — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Friulian: fonologjie — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Galician: fonoloxía — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Georgian: ფონოლოგია (ponologia) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • German: Phonologie — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • German: Phonemik — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Greek: φωνολογία (fonología) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Haitian Creole: fonoloji — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Hebrew: פונולוגיה — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Hindi: स्वनिमविज्ञान (svanimvijñān) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Hindi: ध्वनितत्व (dhvanitatva) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Hindi: सौतियात (sautiyāt) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Hungarian: fonológia — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Icelandic: hljóðkerfisfræði — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Ido: fonologio — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Indonesian: fonologi — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Interlingua: phonologia — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Irish: fóineolaíocht — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Irish: foghareolaíocht — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Italian: fonologia — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Japanese: 音韻論 (on'inron) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Kannada: ಧ್ವನಿಶಾಸ್ತ್ರ (dhvaniśāstra) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Kazakh: фонология (fonologiä) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Khmer: សូរវិទ្យា (so vi tyea) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Korean: 음운론 (eumullon) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Korean: 어음학 (eo'eumhak) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Central Kurdish: فۆنۆلۆجی (fonolocî) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Kyrgyz: фонология (fonologiya) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Latin: phonologia — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Latvian: fonoloģija — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Limburgish: fonologie — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Lithuanian: fonologija — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Lombard: funulugia — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Luganda: essomanjatula — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Luxembourgish: phonologie — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Macedonian: фоноло́гија (fonológija) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Malay: fonologi — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Maltese: fonoloġija — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Manx: sheeanchoryssaghtys — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Māori: weteoro — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Marathi: उच्चारशास्त्र (uccārśāstra) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Mongolian: фонологи (fonologi) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Mongolian: авиалбар судлал (avialbar sudlal) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Mongolian: авиалбарзүй (avialbarzüj) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Norwegian Bokmål: fonologi — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: fonologi — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Occitan: fonologia — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Papiamentu: fonologia — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Pashto: غږپوهنه — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Persian: واجشناسی (vâj-šenâsi) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Polish: fonologia — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Portuguese: fonologia — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Punjabi: ਧੁਨੀ ਵਿਉਂਤ (dhunī viunta) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Punjabi: صوتیات (ṣoteyāt) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Romanian: fonologie — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Romansh: fonologia — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Russian: фоноло́гия (fonológija) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Serbo-Croatian: фоноло̀гија — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Serbo-Croatian: fonològija — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Shona: ruambainzwi — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Sicilian: fonoluggìa — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Sindhi: وايوڀياسُ (Viobhiyaasu) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Slovak: fonológia — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Slovene: fonologija — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Slovene: glasoslovje — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Spanish: fonología — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Swahili: fonolojia — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Swedish: fonologi — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Tagalog: ponolohiya — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Tagalog: dalubtinigan — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Tagalog: tinigan — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Tajik: фоноло́гия (fonológiya) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Tajik: вожшиносӣ (vožšinosi) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Tamil: ஒலியனியல் (oliyaṉiyal) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Thai: สัทวิทยา (sàt wít-tá-yaa) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Thai: สรวิทยา (sŏn wít-tá-yaa) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Tibetan: སྒྲ་སྦྱོར་རིག་པ (sgra sbyor rig pa) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Turkish: fonoloji — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Turkish: sesbilim — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Ukrainian: фоноло́гія (fonolóhija) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Urdu: صوتیات (sautiyāt) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Uzbek: fonologiya — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Venetan: fonołoxia — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Vietnamese: âm vị học — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Waray-Waray: ponolohiya — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Welsh: ffonoleg — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Yiddish: פֿאָנאָלאָגיע (fonologye) — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Yoruba: fonọ́lọ́jì — study of the way sounds function in languages
  • Cebuano: ponolohiya — way sounds function within a given language
  • Chinese Mandarin: 音系 (yīnxì) — way sounds function within a given language
  • Danish: lydsystem — way sounds function within a given language
  • Finnish: fonologia — way sounds function within a given language
  • French: phonologie — way sounds function within a given language
  • Galician: fonoloxía — way sounds function within a given language
  • Georgian: ფონოლოგია (ponologia) — way sounds function within a given language
  • Georgian: ფონეტიკა (poneṭiḳa) — way sounds function within a given language
  • German: Lautsystem — way sounds function within a given language
  • Hindi: स्वनिमविज्ञान (svanimvijñān) — way sounds function within a given language
  • Persian: واجشناسی (vâj-šenâsi) — way sounds function within a given language
  • Portuguese: fonologia — way sounds function within a given language
  • Russian: фоне́тика (fonɛ́tika) — way sounds function within a given language
  • Russian: фоноло́гия (fonológija) — way sounds function within a given language
  • Spanish: fonología — way sounds function within a given language
  • Swahili: fonolojia — way sounds function within a given language
  • Tagalog: tinigan — way sounds function within a given language
  • Welsh: ffonoleg — way sounds function within a given language
  • Finnish: fonologia — study of the way components of signs function in a sign language; way components of signs function within a given sign language
  • Welsh: ffonoleg — study of the way components of signs function in a sign language; way components of signs function within a given sign language
Real reading context

phonology in complete knowledge articles