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Definition 2024

minimal_pair

minimal pair

English

Noun

minimal pair ‎(plural minimal pairs)

(linguistics) A pair of words differing by only one phonetic segment or suprasegment, used to prove the validity of a proposed phoneme, toneme, or chroneme.
"Beach and bitch" and "bun and ban" are examples of minimal pairs.

Related terms

near-minimal pair

Translations

Pair of words

French: paire minimale (fr) f
German: Minimalpaar (de) n
Italian: coppia minima

Portuguese: par mínimo
Spanish: par mínimo (es) m

See also

minimal pair on Wikipedia.Wikipedia