PHONEME

[pho.neme] n [F phoneme, fr. Gk phonemat-, phonema speech sound, utterance, fr. phonein to sound] (ca. 1916): any of the abstract units of the phonetic system of a language that correspond to a set of similar speech sounds (as the velar /k/ of cool and the palatal /k/ of keel) which are perceived to be a single distinctive sound in the language