SAMPA

S1A1M3P3A1
/ˈsæmpə/

proper noun

An alphabet based on the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), but using only 7-bit ASCII characters, to work around text encoding problems before the introduction of Unicode.

“This is Sampa my friend; anything can happen.”

OriginBrazilian Portuguese Sampa →
UncommonScrabble 9
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Meanings

SAMPA1

proper noun
  1. An alphabet based on the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), but using only 7-bit ASCII characters, to work around text encoding problems before the introduction of Unicode.

Sampa2

proper noun
  1. Nickname for São Paulo: a municipality, the state capital of São Paulo State, Brazil

    This is Sampa my friend; anything can happen.

Origin

SAMPA · proper noun

Acronym of Speech Assessment Methods Phonetic Alphabet.

Full word history & related roots →

Sampa · proper noun

  1. Brazilian PortugueseSampa
  2. Brazilian PortugueseSampa
  3. EnglishSampa

Borrowed from Brazilian Portuguese Sampa.

More words from Brazilian Portuguese

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with SAMPA

TampaNampa
All rhymes →

Anagrams

Sapampasma
Cite this entry
APA

SAMPA. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/SAMPA

MLA

“SAMPA.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/SAMPA. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “SAMPA,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/SAMPA.

Source: SAMPA on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.