grapheme
noun/ˈɡræfiːm/
/ˈɡræfiːm/
(linguistics)- any one of the set of smallest units in a writing system that represents a speech sound and can make the difference between one word and another. In English, the ‘s’ in sip and the ‘sh’ in ship represent two different graphemes. compare phonemeWord Origin1930s: from graph ‘a visual symbol representing a unit of sound or other feature of speech’ + -eme.
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grapheme