minimal pair

English

Noun

minimal pair (plural minimal pairs)

1. (phonology) 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 differing by only one phonetic segment or suprasegment

• Catalan: parell mínim (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 最細對立體／最细对立体

  Mandarin: 最小對立體／最小对立体 (zuìxiǎoduìlìtǐ)

• Czech: minimální pár m
• Danish: minimalt par n
• Dutch: minimaal paar n
• Esperanto: minimuma paro
• Finnish: minimipari
• French: paire minimale (fr) f
• German: Minimalpaar (de) n
• Greek: ελάχιστο ζεύγος n (eláchisto zévgos)
• Hebrew: זוג מינימלי (he) m (zug minimali)
• Hungarian: minimális pár, minimálpár
• Icelandic: mágmarkspar n
• Irish: péire íosmhéide m
• Italian: coppia minima
• Japanese: ミニマル・ペア (minimaru pea), 最小対語 (さいしょうついご, saishōtsuigo), 最小対 (さいしょうつい, saishōtsui), 最小対立 (さいしょうたいりつ, saishōtairitsu)
• Korean: 최소 대립쌍 (choeso daeripssang)
• Manx: jees sloo f
• Norwegian: minimalt par n

  Nynorsk: minimalt par n

• Polish: para minimalna f
• Portuguese: par mínimo
• Romanian: pereche minimală f
• Russian: минима́льная па́ра f (minimálʹnaja pára)
• Spanish: par mínimo (es) m
• Swedish: minimalt ordpar n
• Welsh: pâr minimol m

Further reading

• minimal pair on Wikipedia.Wikipedia