phonetic [fəˈnɛɾ.ɪk]adjective 3noun 1forms 1 adjective3 •Relating to the sounds of spoken language. •Relating to phones (as opposed to phonemes). •Relating to the spoken rather than written form of a word or name, as opposed to orthographic.All unfamiliar names have been transcribed in phonetic spelling. noun1 •In such writing systems as the Chinese writing system, the portion of a phono-semantic character that provides an indication of its pronunciation; contrasted with semantic (which is usually the radical).I suspect that 田 dien is the original character and true phonetic of the whole group. — 1887 formsphonetics
