Orthoepy

//ˈɔː.θəʊˌiː.pi// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The study of pronunciation. countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    a term formerly used for the part of phonology that dealt with the ‘correct’ pronunciation of words and its relation to ‘correct’ orthography wordnet
  3. 3
    Accepted or customary pronunciation. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    the way a word or a language is customarily spoken wordnet

Synonyms

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gradationmutationphoneticsphonologyphonologypronunciation

Example

More examples

"Orthography is less essential to language than orthoepy; since all languages are spoken, whilst but a few languages are written. Orthography presupposes orthoepy. Orthography addresses itself to the eye, orthoepy to the ear. Orthoepy deals with the articulate sounds that constitute syllables and words; orthography treats of the signs by which such articulate sounds are expressed in writing."

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ὀρθοέπεια (orthoépeia), possibly via Latin orthoepia, from Ancient Greek ὀρθός (orthós, “correct”) + ἔπος (épos, “word”) + -ία (-ía, “-y”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.