ideophone
/ˈɪ.di.(j)ə(ʊ)ˌfəʊn/
"ideophone" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ideophone” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A word that uses sound symbolism to express aspects of events that can be experienced by the senses, like smell, color, shape, sound, action, or movement.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ideophone |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɪ.di.(j)ə(ʊ)ˌfəʊn/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ideophone” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for ideophone is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɪ.di.(j)ə(ʊ)ˌfəʊn/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A word that uses sound symbolism to express aspects of events that can be experienced by the senses, like smell, color, shape, sound, action, or movement.".
ideophone doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From ideo- + -phone. James F. Fordyce (The Ideophone as a Phonosemantic Class: The Case of Yoruba, in Current approaches to African linguistics, Ivan R. Dihoff (ed.), page 263) credits C. M. Doke with introducing the term in 1935. The correct English form is ideophone, spelled I-D-E-O-P-H-O-N-E.
Definition
- 1A word that uses sound symbolism to express aspects of events that can be experienced by the senses, like smell, color, shape, sound, action, or movement.
Etymology
From ideo- + -phone. James F. Fordyce (The Ideophone as a Phonosemantic Class: The Case of Yoruba, in Current approaches to African linguistics, Ivan R. Dihoff (ed.), page 263) credits C. M. Doke with introducing the term in 1935.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "ideophone"?
What does "ideophone" mean?
How do you pronounce "ideophone"?
What is the origin of the word "ideophone"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “ideophone”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-D-E-O-P-H-O-N-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɪ.di.(j)ə(ʊ)ˌfəʊn/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.