Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Verified for the 2026 exam
Verified for the 2026 exam•Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Definition
The smallest distinctive sound unit, or phoneme, is a specific sound that distinguishes one word from another in a spoken language.
Related terms
Morpheme: A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of language. It can be a whole word or part of a word.
Allophone: An allophone is a variation of a phoneme that doesn't change the meaning of the word. For example, the "p" sound in "pin" and "spin" are allophones.
Phonetics: Phonetics is the study of speech sounds and how they are produced, transmitted, and perceived.