phonestheme

noun

pho·​nes·​theme fō-ˈnes-ˌthēm 

linguistics

: the common feature of sound occurring in a group of symbolic words

He points to a 1929 experiment by Edward Sapir in which Sapir's subjects were asked to match nonsense words with small and large versions of the same object. The subjects tended to match words with a high vowel (such as ee) to the small object and those with a low vowel (such as the o in "cot") to the larger object. British linguist J.R. Firth later called these links between sound and meaning "phonesthemes."

—Michael Erard

phonesthemic

fō-ˌnes-ˈthē-mik 

adjective

Word History

Etymology

blend of phoneme and esthetic

Note: The term was coined by British linguist J.R. (John Rupert) Firth (1890-1960) in Speech (London, 1930), p. 50.

First Known Use

1930, in the meaning defined above