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grapheme

Syllabification: (graph·eme)
Pronunciation: /ˈgrafēm/

Definition of grapheme

noun

Linguistics
  • the smallest meaningful contrastive unit in a writing system. Compare with phoneme.

Derivatives

graphemic

Pronunciation: /graˈfēmik/

adjective

graphemically

Pronunciation: /graˈfēmik(ə)lē/

adverb

graphemics

Pronunciation: /graˈfēmiks/

noun

Origin:

1930s: from graph2 + -eme

Grammar

A term from linguistics meaning the smallest unit in writing that can change meaning. In practice this means: a letter a punctuation mark

grapheme in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of grapheme in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

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