phonetic

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin phōnēticus, from Ancient Greek φωνητῐκός (phōnētikós). By surface analysis, phone +‎ -etic.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /fəˈnɛt.ɪk/
• (US) IPA^(key): /fəˈnɛt.ɪk/, [fəˈnɛɾɪk]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pho‧net‧ic

Adjective

phonetic (not comparable)

1. Relating to the sounds of spoken language.
2. (linguistics) Relating to phones (as opposed to phonemes).
3. Relating to the spoken rather than written form of a word or name, as opposed to orthographic.

   All unfamiliar names have been transcribed in phonetic spelling.

Derived terms

• international phonetic alphabet
• NATO phonetic alphabet
• phonetical
• phonetically
• phonetic alphabet
• phonetic determinative
• phonetic erosion
• phonetic name
• phonetic spelling alphabet
• phonetic symbol
• phonetic symbolism
• psychophonetic

 

Related terms

• fauxnetic
• phone
• phoneme
• phonemic
• phonetics
• phonology
• semiphonetic

 

Translations

relating to sounds of spoken language

• Afrikaans: foneties
• Armenian: հնչյունային (hy) (hnčʻyunayin)
• Asturian: fonéticu (ast)
• Catalan: fonètic
• Czech: fonetický (cs)
• Dutch: fonetisch (nl)
• Finnish: äänteellinen, foneettinen (fi)
• French: phonétique (fr)
• Galician: fonético
• German: phonetisch (de)
• Greek: φωνητικός (el) (fonitikós)
• Ingrian: fonettiin
• Interlingua: phonetic
• Italian: fonetico (it)
• Latvian: fonētisks
• Manx: sheeanagh
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fonetisk (no)

  Nynorsk: fonetisk

• Occitan: fonetic (oc)
• Polish: fonetyczny (pl) m
• Portuguese: fonético (pt)
• Romanian: fonetic (ro)
• Russian: фонети́ческий (ru) (fonetíčeskij)
• Scottish Gaelic: fogharach
• Spanish: fonético (es)
• Swedish: fonetisk (sv)
• Tagalog: palatinigin
• Yiddish: פֿאָנעטיש (fonetish)

linguistics: relating to phones

• Armenian: հնչյունաբանական (hy) (hnčʻyunabanakan)
• Asturian: fonéticu (ast)
• Dutch: fonetisch (nl)
• Finnish: foneettinen (fi)
• French: phonétique (fr)
• German: phonetisch (de)
• Hungarian: fonetikai (hu)
• Latvian: fonētisks
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fonetisk (no)

  Nynorsk: fonetisk

• Polish: fonetyczny (pl) m
• Portuguese: fonético (pt)
• Romanian: fonetic (ro)
• Scottish Gaelic: fogharach
• Spanish: fonético (es)
• Tagalog: palatinigin
• Welsh: seinegol
• Yiddish: פֿאָנעטיש (fonetish)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Bengali: ^{(please verify)} ধ্বনিমূলক (dhbônimūlôk)
• Hindi: ^{(please verify)} ध्वन्यात्मक (hi) (dhvanyātmak)

Noun

phonetic (plural phonetics)

1. (linguistics) In such writing systems as the Chinese writing system, the portion of a phono-semantic character that provides an indication of its pronunciation; contrasted with semantic (which is usually the radical).
   • 1887–88, J. Edkins, “The character 眞 true”, in The China Review, volume 16, page 306:

     I suspect that 田 dien is the original character and true phonetic of the whole group.

   • 1984, John DeFrancis, The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy:

     In the first case the character is pronounced identically, even as to tone, as the phonetic.

   • 2013, William S-Y. Wang, Love and War in Ancient China: Voices from the Shijing, page 25:

     Or, the semantic may wrap around the phonetic, or position within the phonetic.

Translations

component of a phono-semantic compound that indicates pronunciation

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 聲旁／声旁 (zh) (shēngpáng), 聲符／声符 (zh) (shēngfú), 形聲偏旁／形声偏旁 (xíngshēng piānpáng)

• Finnish: foneettinen osa
• Japanese: 音符 (ja) (onpu)