The story
- Proto-Indo-European*bʰeh₂-
- Proto-Hellenic*pʰōnā́
- Ancient Greekφωνή (phōnḗ)
- Ancient Greekφωνέω (phōnéō)
- Ancient Greekφώνημα (phṓnēma)
- English todayphoneme
From Ancient Greek φώνημα (phṓnēma, “sound”), from φωνέω (phōnéō, “to sound”), from φωνή (phōnḗ, “sound”). By surface analysis, phone (“speech sound”) + -eme (“unit”).
Words from the same roots
Ancient Greekφώνημα all →
chroneme-eme
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.