Meanings
- entertainmentHaving a single melodic line and no harmony.
Near-synonym: monodic
Synonyms: homophonic, monophonous, monodic
- communicationsHaving simple one-to-one mapping between letters and phonemes.
From a similar selection, says M. Remusat, the Coreans have made a monophonic alphabet of nine vowels and fifteen consonants, with which they write their language.
1828 July 7, Peter S. Du Ponceau, “On some Points connected with the Nature of the Chinese Language (enclosure in letter from Basil Hall)”, in The Philosophical magazine, volume 5
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveHaving a single channel.
adjectiveHaving a single melodic line and no harmony.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivedesignating sound transmission or recording or reproduction over a single channel
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From mono- + -phonic. Compare Ancient Greek μονόφωνος (monóphōnos, “with only one voice or tone”)
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan monofònic
- monofònichaving a single channel
Finnish yksiääninen, monofoninen
- yksiääninenhaving a single channel
- monofoninenhaving a single channel
- yksiääninenhaving a single melodic line and no harmony
- monofoninenhaving a single melodic line and no harmony
French monophonique, monophonique
- monophoniquehaving a single channel
- monophoniquehaving a single melodic line and no harmony
Greek μονοφωνικός
- μονοφωνικός (monofonikós)having a single channel
Irish monafónach, aonfhónach
- monafónachhaving a single channel
- aonfhónachhaving a single channel
- monafónachhaving a single melodic line and no harmony
- aonfhónachhaving a single melodic line and no harmony
Italian monofonico
- monofonicohaving a single channel
Polish monofoniczny, jednogłosowy
- monofonicznyhaving a single channel
- jednogłosowyhaving a single melodic line and no harmony
Portuguese monofónico, monofônico
- monofónicohaving a single channel
- monofônicohaving a single channel
Spanish monofónico
- monofónicohaving a single channel
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with monophonic
Cite this entry
monophonic. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/monophonic
“monophonic.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/monophonic. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “monophonic,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/monophonic.
Source: monophonic on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.