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