adj. 1. Of or relating to phonetics. 2. Representing the sounds of speech with a set of distinct symbols, each designating a single sound: phonetic spelling. 3. Of, relating to, or being features of pronunciation that are not phonemically distinctive in a language, as aspiration of consonants or vowel length in English. [New Latin phōnēticus, representing speech sounds, from Greek phōnētikos, vocal, from phōnētos, to be spoken, from phōnein, to produce a sound, from phōnē, sound, voice; see bhā-2 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] pho·neti·cal adj. pho·neti·cal·ly adv. |
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