Phonetic \Pho*net"ic\, a. [Gr. ?, fr. ? a sound, tone; akin to Gr. ? to speak: cf. F. phon['e]tique. See {Ban} a proclamation.] 1. Of or pertaining to the voice, or its use. 2. Representing sounds; as, phonetic characters; -- opposed to {ideographic}; as, a phonetic notation. {Phonetic spelling}, spelling in phonetic characters, each representing one sound only; -- contrasted with Romanic spelling, or that by the use of the Roman alphabet.