phonetic

adjective

pho·​net·​ic fə-ˈne-tik 

1

: representing the sounds and other phenomena of speech: such as

a

: constituting an alteration of ordinary spelling that better represents the spoken language, that employs only characters of the regular alphabet, and that is used in a context of conventional spelling

b

: representing speech sounds by means of symbols that have one value only

c

: employing for speech sounds more than the minimum number of symbols necessary to represent the significant differences in a speaker's speech

2

a

: of or relating to spoken language or speech sounds

b

: of or relating to the science of phonetics

Did you know?

The English alphabet is phonetic—that is, the letters represent sounds. The Chinese alphabet, however, isn't phonetic, since its symbols represent ideas rather than sounds. But even in English, a letter doesn't always represent the same sound; the "a" in cat, father, and mate, for example, represents three different sounds. Because of this, books about words often use specially created phonetic alphabets in which each symbol stands for a single sound in order to represent pronunciations.

Examples of phonetic in a Sentence

the phonetic units of a language

This dictionary uses the International Phonetic Alphabet.

Spanish is a more phonetic language than English.

Recent Examples on the Web

This indicates that dogs focus on broad sound patterns rather than the finer phonetic details humans rely on, which may explain why their vocabularies remain relatively small. —Lucy Notarantonio, MSNBC Newsweek, 20 Aug. 2025

If the spelling still comes out wrong, try adjusting the phonetic spelling until the system gets it right. —Ken Colburn, AZCentral.com, 18 Aug. 2025

The remaining pages include contact information for staff members as well as the names of the 13 U.S. and Russian state leaders who attended, including phonetic pronunciation of the Russian names. —Sarah D. Wire, USA Today, 18 Aug. 2025

Instead, people spoke hundreds of dialects and languages, meaning there was no singular phonetic spelling of the sound of each word. —Emily Feng, NPR, 5 July 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin phōnēticus "(of written characters) representing speech sounds rather than ideas," borrowed from Greek phōnētikós "of speech, endowed with speech," from phōnē-, variant stem of phōnéō, phoneîn "to speak, utter " (derivative of phōnḗ "sound made by something living, voice, speech, utterance") + -t-, verbal adjective formative + -ikos -ic entry 1 — more at phono-

First Known Use

1802, in the meaning defined at sense 2a

Phrases Containing phonetic

• phonetic alphabet

Rhymes for phonetic

• acetic
• aesthetic
• ascetic
• athletic
• cosmetic
• diegetic
• eidetic
• emetic
• esthetic
• frenetic
• genetic
• helvetic

Kids Definition

phonetic

adjective

pho·​net·​ic fə-ˈnet-ik 

1

a

: of or relating to spoken language or speech sounds

phonetic differences between Old English and Modern English

b

: of or relating to phonetics

2

: representing speech sounds

phonetic spelling

phonetically

-i-k(ə-)lē 

adverb

Etymology

from modern Latin phoneticus "relating to speech sounds," from Greek phōnētikos (same meaning), derived from phōnē "voice, sound" — related to euphony, symphony

Medical Definition

phonetic

adjective

pho·​net·​ic fə-ˈnet-ik 

1

a

: of or relating to spoken language or speech sounds

b

: of or relating to the science of phonetics

2

: representing the sounds and other phenomena of speech

phonetically

-i-k(ə-)lē 

adverb