pho ‧ neme /ˈfəʊniːm $ ˈfoʊ-/ BrE AmE noun [countable] technical
[ Date: 1800-1900 ; Language: French ; Origin: phonème , from Greek phonema 'speech sound' ]
the smallest unit of speech that can be used to make one word different from another word, such as the ‘b’ and the ‘p’ in ‘big’ and ‘pig’ ⇨ morpheme
—phonemic /fəˈniːmɪk/ adjective
—phonemically /-kli/ adverb