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phonotactics.

A branch of phonology that deals with the restrictions a language applies to combinations of phonemes.

12 characters4 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈfəʊnə(ʊ)ˌtaktɪks/Received-Pronunciation/ˈfoʊnəˌtæktɪks/General-American/ˈfoʊnoʊˌtæktɪks/General-American
  1. A branch of phonology that deals with the restrictions a language applies to combinations of phonemes.

    uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂-der. Proto-Hellenic *pʰōnā́ Ancient Greek φωνή (phōnḗ)der. English phono- Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g-der. Proto-Hellenic *tat͏̌t͏̌ō Ancient Greek τάσσω (tássō) Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Hellenic *-tis Ancient Greek -τῐς (-tĭs) Ancient Greek -σῐς (-sĭs) Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Hellenic *-kos Ancient Greek -κός (-kós) ? Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Hellenic *-tós Ancient Greek -τος (-tos) ▲ Ancient Greek -κός (-kós) ? Ancient Greek -τικός (-tikós) Ancient Greek τακτικός (taktikós)bor. New Latin tacticabor. English tactic English tactics English phonotactics From phono- (“sound”) + tactics (“organization, arranging”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.