phonetics
pho·ne·tics/fəˈnɛt.ɪks/noun
phonetics is spelled P-H-O-N-E-T-I-C-S: 9 letters and 3 syllables (pho·ne·tics). It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 48,775th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, phonetics means “The study of the physical sounds of human speech, concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds (phones), and the processes of their…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in phonetics?
| Letters | 9: P-H-O-N-E-T-I-C-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: pho·ne·tics |
| In writing | about once in every 3 million words; the 48,775th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is phonetics?
Phonetics appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 48,775th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce phonetics?
- /fəˈnɛt.ɪks/
- [fəˈnɛʔəks]
- [fəˈnɛhəks]
Phonetics has 3 syllables, split pho·ne·tics in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-phonetics.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What does phonetics mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The study of the physical sounds of human speech, concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds (phones), and the processes of their physiological production, auditory reception, and neurophysiological perception, and their representation by written symbols.
This dictionary shows the phonetics of the words.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate phonetics?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of phonetics: phonet..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Phonetics in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense study of speech sounds and their representation by written symbols:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | phonétique |
| German | Phonetik, Lautlehre |
| Portuguese | fonética |
| Spanish | fonética |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does phonetics come from?
From phonetic + -s.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).