phonetic
Other forms: phonetics
Phonetic describes the way that spoken words sound. To sound out an unfamiliar word, you break it into its phonetic parts, saying each in the order in which it appears.
When you use the word phonetic, you're talking about pronunciation, or the way language sounds. When you learn how to speak Chinese, for example, you're often taught both traditional Chinese characters and a phonetic alphabet, which helps people learn to correctly pronounce Chinese words. The Greek word for sound or voice is phone, and it's the root of phonetic, which was first used in the early 1800s.
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of or relating to speech sounds“phonetic transcription”synonyms: phonic
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of or relating to the scientific study of speech sounds“phonetic analysis”
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Vocabulary lists containing phonetic
Some people might say that the written word transformed human society more than anything besides the mastery of fire. After all, writing is what separates prehistory from history. Whether you’re talking about ancient hieroglyphics or your English paper that’s due tomorrow, the ability to communicate with abstract symbols remains one of our most powerful tools. This list covers the anatomy of written language, from definition to denotation, from semantics to semiotics. Word!
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Learn these words that derive from the Greek root phone, meaning "sound." Here are links to the complete se