phonetics

noun

UK /fəˈnet.ɪks/

US /fəˈnet̬.ɪks/

Phonetics is the study of the sounds people make when they speak.

In phonetics class, we learned how the mouth makes different sounds.

SYNONYMS

sound study speech science pronunciation study articulation study

RELATED WORDS

phonology pronunciation speech linguistics alphabet

OTHER MEANINGS

2. The system of speech sounds used in a particular language.

The phonetics of French include sounds that English does not have.

3. The way words are pronounced, especially when written with special symbols.

The dictionary shows the phonetics of each word in slashes.

4. The branch of linguistics that deals with physical speech sounds.

She studied phonetics to help people learn new languages.