# fonema
## Catalan
### Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek φώνημα (phṓnēma, “sound”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central) [fuˈnɛ.mə]
* IPA: (Balearic) [foˈne.mə]
* IPA: (Valencia) [foˈne.ma]

### Noun

fonema m (plural fonemes)
* (phonetics) phoneme

#### Derived terms

* fonemàtic

### Further reading

* “fonema” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
* “fonema”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
* “fonema” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
* “fonema” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

## Galician
### Etymology

From Ancient Greek φώνημα (phṓnēma, “sound”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /foˈnɛma/ [foˈnɛ̃.mɐ]
** Rhymes: -ɛma
* IPA: /foˈnema/ [foˈnẽ.mɐ]
** Rhymes: -ema
* Hyphenation: fo‧ne‧ma

### Noun

fonema m (plural fonemas)
* phoneme

### Further reading

* “fonema”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025

## Italian
### Etymology

From Ancient Greek φώνημα (phṓnēma, “sound”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /foˈnɛ.ma/
* Rhymes: -ɛma
* Hyphenation: fo‧nè‧ma

### Noun

fonema m (plural fonemi)
* (linguistics) phoneme
** 1894, Luigi Ceci, “Sulla questione della gutturale media labializzata nel latino”, in Rendiconti della Reale Accademia dei Lincei: classe di scienze morali, storiche e filologiche - Serie quinta, vol. Ⅲ‎, Rome: Tipografia dell'Accademia, section 36, page 401:[…] la etimologia che noi proponiamo ben ci dimostra l'italicità del fonemathe etymology we propose well demonstrates the phoneme’s Italic quality
** 1987, Romano Lazzeroni, chapter 2 (“Tipologia e dinamica del mutamento”), in Linguistica storica, Rome: Carocci Editore, section 2, page 17:Il fonema, pertanto, è una unità astratta che si manifesta mediante suoni concretiTherefore, the phoneme is an abstract unit manifesting itself through concrete sounds

#### Derived terms

* -ema
* fonematico

#### Related terms

* fonematica
* fonetica

### Further reading

* fonema in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

## Lithuanian
### Etymology

Ultimately from Ancient Greek φώνημᾰ (phṓnēmă). Compare Latvian fonēma.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [foː.nʲɛˈmaː]
* Rhymes: -aː
* Hyphenation: fo‧ne‧ma

### Noun

fonemà f (plural fonèmos) stress pattern 1
* (phonology) phoneme

#### Declension
### Further reading

* “fonema”, in Lietuvių kalbos žodynas [Dictionary of the Lithuanian language], lkz.lt, 1941–2025
* “fonema”, in Bendrinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas [Dictionary of common Lithuanian], ekalba.lt, n.d.
* “fonema”, in Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas [Dictionary of contemporary Lithuanian], ekalba.lt, 1954–2025

## Lower Sorbian
### Noun

fonema
* inflection of fonem:
** genitive singular
** nominative dual
** accusative dual

## Portuguese
### Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek φώνημα (phṓnēma, “sound”).

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /foˈnẽ.mɐ/
* (Brazil) IPA: /foˈnẽ.mɐ/
** (Southern Brazil) IPA: /foˈne.ma/
* (Portugal) IPA: /fuˈne.mɐ/
* Rhymes: -emɐ
* Hyphenation: fo‧ne‧ma

### Noun

fonema m (plural fonemas)
* (phonetics) phoneme (indivisible unit of sound)

#### Related terms

* fonémico / fonêmico

### Further reading

* “fonema”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

## Spanish
### Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek φώνημα (phṓnēma, “sound”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /foˈnema/ [foˈne.ma]
* Rhymes: -ema
* Syllabification: fo‧ne‧ma

### Noun

fonema m (plural fonemas)
* (phonetics) phoneme

#### Derived terms

* fonemática
* fonemático

#### Related terms

* fonémico
* fonético

### Further reading

* “fonema”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10