/ ˈfəʊniːm; NAmE ˈfoʊ-/ noun
( phonetics ) any one of the set of smallest units of speech in a language that distinguish one word from another. In English, the /s/ in sip and the /z/ in zip represent two different phonemes.
► phon·em·ic / fəˈniːmɪk; NAmE / adjective
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WORD ORIGIN
late 19th cent.: from French phonème , from Greek phōnēma sound, speech, from phōnein speak.