Phonem
[foˈneːm]
The verdict
“Phonem” is uncommon German (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency German
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - die kleinste bedeutungsunterscheidende sprachliche Einheit (Langue)
Corpus desk
Index DE-phonem · Phonem · German
Phonem · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "P" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Phonem |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [foˈneːm] |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Langschwanz-Rang von „Phonem“ im Deutschen
Rare enough to double-check
Phonem is uncommon German outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed [foˈneːm]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "die kleinste bedeutungsunterscheidende sprachliche Einheit (Langue)".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for Phonem, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is Phonem, spelled P-H-O-N-E-M.
Definition
- 1die kleinste bedeutungsunterscheidende sprachliche Einheit (Langue)
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how Phonem appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
/r/ : /f/ => rein : fein. In diesem Minimalpaar zeigt sich, dass /r/ und /f/ zu verschiedenen Phonemen gehören müssen. Weiteres Beispiel:
/h/ : /m/ => Haus : Maus
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.