phoneme

pho·neme

noun \ˈfō-ˌnēm\

Definition of PHONEME

: a member of the set of the smallest units of speech that serve to distinguish one utterance from another in a language or dialect <the \p\ of English pat and the \f\ of English fat are two different phonemes>

—pho·ne·mic \fə-ˈnē-mik, fō-\ adjective

—pho·ne·mi·cal·ly \-mi-k(ə-)lē\ adverb