phonemic

/fəˈniː.mɪk/

//fəˈniː.mɪk// adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"phonemic" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“phonemic” is uncommon English (frequency #56,977 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#56,977
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Relating to phonemes.

Corpus desk

Index EN-phonemic · phonemic · English

phonemic · rank #56,977 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #56,977
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH phoneme

Nearest frequency peer: phoneme (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

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.

Long-tail ranks near “phonemic”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “phonemic” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for phonemic
PropertyValue
Headwordphonemic
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/fəˈniː.mɪk/
Letters8
Frequency rank#56,977
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “phonemic” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).phonemicfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “phoneme” (#56,976), “physiologic” (#56,978), “philosophic” (#56,975). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “phonemic” is #56,977. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

phonemic is uncommon English at frequency #56,977 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /fəˈniː.mɪk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for phonemic in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From phoneme + -ic. The correct English form is phonemic, spelled P-H-O-N-E-M-I-C.

Definition

  1. 1
    Relating to phonemes.
  2. 2
    Relating to a difference between sounds that can change the meaning of words in a language.
  3. 3
    Corresponding precisely and consistently with the phonemes.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how phonemic appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. We've finished our phonemic analysis and we're ready to move on to morphology.
  2. Tone is phonemic in Chinese.

Etymology

From phoneme + -ic.

This word in other languages

phonémique(Français)phonemisch(Deutsch)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "phonemic"?
"phonemic" is spelled P-H-O-N-E-M-I-C. The IPA pronunciation is /fəˈniː.mɪk/.
What does "phonemic" mean?
As an adjective, "phonemic" means: Relating to phonemes.
How do you pronounce "phonemic"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "phonemic" is /fəˈniː.mɪk/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "phonemic"?
From phoneme + -ic. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "phonemic", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

plebeian#56,982Prichard#56,990pairwise#56,962pummeled#56,994

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list