phonetic meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

phonetic

adj

CA, US [fəˈnɛɾ.ɪk] · /fəˈnɛt.ɪk/

Etymology Borrowed from Latin phōnēticus, from Ancient Greek φωνητῐκός (phōnētĭkós). By surface analysis, phone + -etic.

Relating to the sounds of spoken language.

Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences Relating to phones (as opposed to phonemes).

Relating to the spoken rather than written form of a word or name, as opposed to orthographic.

All unfamiliar names have been transcribed in phonetic spelling.

Derived terms: antiphonetic, dysphonetic, ideophonetic, international phonetic alphabet, morphophonetic, NATO phonetic alphabet, nonphonetic, phonetical, phonetically, phonetic alphabet, phonetic determinative, phonetic erosion, phoneticism, phoneticist, phoneticize, phonetic name, phonetic spelling alphabet, phonetic symbol, phonetic symbolism, prephonetic, psychophonetic, sociophonetic, unphonetic
Related terms: fauxnetic, phone, phoneme, phonemic, phonetics, phonology, semiphonetic

phonetic

noun

Etymology Borrowed from Latin phōnēticus, from Ancient Greek φωνητῐκός (phōnētĭkós). By surface analysis, phone + -etic.

Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences In such writing systems as the Chinese writing system, the portion of a phono-semantic character that provides an indication of its pronunciation; contrasted with semantic (which is usually the radical).

I suspect that 田 dien is the original character and true phonetic of the whole group.1887–88, J. Edkins, “The character 眞 true”, in The China Review, volume 16, page 306:
In the first case the character is pronounced identically, even as to tone, as the phonetic.1984, John DeFrancis, The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy:

1 more example

Or, the semantic may wrap around the phonetic, or position within the phonetic.2013, William S-Y. Wang, Love and War in Ancient China: Voices from the Shijing, page 25:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.