phonestheme

English

Alternative forms

• phonaestheme

Etymology

From phonesthesia +‎ -eme.

Noun

phonestheme (plural phonesthemes)

1. (linguistics) A sound that, because it appears in a number of words of similar meaning, has a recognizable semantic association.

Hypernyms

• sound symbolism

Derived terms

• phonesthemic

References

• OED 2006 (online)