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phonic

phonic

1 6.7
About speech sounds and how people make them
  • adjective
  • /ˈfɒnɪk/
  • Specialized
translation icon : fónico
  • Children learn to read by practicing phonic sounds, linking letters to their corresponding sounds.

Examples

  • The teacher used a phonic approach to help students understand the sounds associated with letters.

  • Activate the phonic detector.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • The disadvantage of this method is that children will still make mistakes in spelling; this is because there are just so many English words that are not phonic.

    Blog text (10)
  • With OCLAP, the phonic/fluency method gained prominence as the theory and assumptions of the new program were significantly shaped by this method.

    Academic text (2005)
  • Further, when it was time to move students from Tier 3 to Tier 2, we wished that we had had a Tier 2.5 because, by then, the Tier 2 groups were so much further ahead in terms of the amount of text that they could independently read as well as the phonic rules and sight words that they had mastered.

    Academic text (2014)
  • Activating Audio Enhancer! An auto-phonic receiver pops out of the side of Billy's helmet.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • TS is a tic disorder in which multiple motor tics and one or more vocalizations (or phonic tics) occur every day or intermittently for more than one year.

    Academic text (1990)
  • In speech therapy, we focus on phonic exercises to improve pronunciation and clarity.

Synonyms

vocal
vsphonic
69 3.5

Able to make sounds with the voice

focuses on the sounds themselves and how they are produced
phonetic
vsphonic
  • Specialized
7 4.8

About speech sounds and how to show them in writing

focuses more on actual speech sounds and their production by voice
phonemic
vsphonic
  • Specialized
1 7.0

Describes speech sounds that change the meaning of words

is about speech sounds and their production generally not only distinct units
phonatory
vsphonic
  • Specialized
8.9

Relating to the sound the vocal cords make when you speak

is broader covering speech sounds and sound production generally
articulatory
vsphonic
  • Specialized
8.1

How the mouth, tongue, and lips make speech sounds

emphasizes sound and voice production rather than just movements

Surface Forms

phonic positive

Morphology

phonic = phoneme (semi-transparent) = phon + ic

Built from the combining form 'phon-' plus the adjective-forming suffix '-ic'; the meaning 'relating to speech sounds' is systematic but relies on a technical base ('phoneme') that may be unfamiliar to average learners.

Etymology

Phonic comes from the root phon- meaning 'sound' or 'voice', the same root you see in everyday words like phone and microphone. So phonic describes things that are about speech sounds or how the voice makes sound.