Phonetics

[fuh-net-iks, foh-] /fəˈnɛt ɪks, foʊ-/

noun, (used with a singular verb)
1.
the science or study of speech sounds and their production, transmission, and reception, and their analysis, classification, and transcription.
Compare , , , .
2.
the system or the body of facts of a particular language.
3.
the symbols used to represent the speech sounds of a language.
[fuh-net-ik, foh-] /fəˈnɛt ɪk, foʊ-/
adjective
1.
Also, phonetical. of or relating to speech sounds, their production, or their transcription in written symbols.
2.
corresponding to pronunciation:
phonetic transcription.
3.
agreeing with pronunciation:
phonetic spelling.
4.
concerning or involving the discrimination of nondistinctive elements of a language. In English, certain phonological features, as length and aspiration, are phonetic but not phonemic.
noun
5.
(in Chinese writing) a written element that represents a sound and is used in combination with a radical to form a character.
/fəˈnɛtɪks/
noun
1.
(functioning as sing) the science concerned with the study of speech processes, including the production, perception, and analysis of speech sounds from both an acoustic and a physiological point of view. This science, though capable of being applied to language studies, technically excludes linguistic considerations Compare phonology
/fəˈnɛtɪk/
adjective
1.
of or relating to phonetics
2.
denoting any perceptible distinction between one speech sound and another, irrespective of whether the sounds are phonemes or allophones Compare phonemic (sense 2)
3.
conforming to pronunciation: phonetic spelling
n.

“scientific study of speech,” 1841, from phonetic; also see -ics.
adj.

“representing vocal sounds,” 1803, from Modern Latin phoneticus (1797), from Greek phonetikos “vocal,” from phonetos “to be spoken, utterable,” verbal adjective of phonein “to speak clearly, utter,” from phone “sound, voice” (see fame (n.)).

phonetics pho·net·ics (fə-nět’ĭks)
n.
The branch of linguistics that deals with the sounds of speech and their production, combination, description, and representation by written symbols.

phonetic pho·net·ic (fə-nět’ĭk)
adj.