— cheremic /keuh ree"mik, ke-/ , adj.
/ker"eem/ , n. Ling.
any of a small set of elements, analogous to the phoneme in speech, proposed as the basic structural units by which the signs of a sign language are represented, and including the handshapes, hand movements, and locations of the hands in relation to the body employed in a particular sign language. Cf. allocher .
[ irreg. cheír hand (cf. CHIRO-) + -EME; coined by U.S. linguist William C. Stokoe (born 1919) in 1960 ]