speech sound

SEE SYNONYMS FOR speech sound ON THESAURUS.COM

noun Phonetics.

any of the set of distinctive sounds of a given language. Compare phoneme.
any audible, elemental, acoustic event occurring in speech: “Go” contains the speech sound “o.” Compare phone2.
any of the sounds of the entire phonetic system of a language.
Compare allophone.

Origin of speech sound

First recorded in 1865–70

Words nearby speech sound

speech from the throne, speech island, speech organ, speech pathology, speech recognition, speech sound, speech therapy, speech-reading, speechify, speechless, speechmaker

Words related to speech sound

click, consonant, liquid, phone, sonant, affricate, diphthong, fricative, implosive, plosive, sibilant, spirant, syllable, vocable

Example sentences from the Web for speech sound

  • By the age of two—or less—the child should be able to imitate exactly any speech-sound.

    Mankind in the Making |H. G. Wells