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phoneme

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The definition of a phoneme is a sound in a language that has its own distinct sound.

(noun)

An example of a phoneme is "c" in the word "car," since it has its own unique sound.

See phoneme in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

Linguis. a set of phonetically similar but slightly differing sounds in a language that are heard as the same sound by native speakers and are represented in phonemic transcription by the same symbol: in English, the phoneme /p/ includes the phonetically differentiated sounds represented by p in “pin,” “spin,” and “tip”

Origin: Fr phonème < Gr phōnēma, a sound < phōnein, to sound < phōnē, a voice: see phono-

See phoneme in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

The smallest phonetic unit in a language that is capable of conveying a distinction in meaning, as the m of mat and the b of bat in English.

Origin:

Origin: French phonème

Origin: , from Greek phōnēma, phōnēmat-, utterance, sound produced

Origin: , from phōnein, to produce a sound

Origin: , from phōnē, sound, voice; see bhā-² in Indo-European roots

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