euphony

From French euphonie, from Ancient Greek εὐφωνία (euphōnía), from εὐ- (eu-, prefix meaning ‘good, well’) + φωνή (phōnḗ, “sound; (human) voice; discourse, speech”) (from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to say, speak”)) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns).^[1] The English word is analysable as eu- +‎ -phony.

• IPA^(key): /ˈjuːfəni/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Hyphenation: eu‧pho‧ny

euphony (countable and uncountable, plural euphonies)

1. A pronunciation of letters and syllables which is pleasing to the ear.

   Synonym: euphonism

   Antonym: cacophony

   When I hear you speak, I hear beautiful euphony.

   • 1890 August 23, “Weekly notes”, in The American‎^[1], volume 524, Robert Ellison, page 370:

     A correspondent of The American has taken exception to the use, in a recent paragraph in this column, of the word “electrocution.” The writer of the paragraph referred to is conscious that the word, like other etymological hybrids, lacks euphony and consistency; but during the formative period succeeding the introduction of a new idea not yet provided with a verbal exponent, the safest course is to follow general popular usage. The idea must be expressed, and the choice lies between a cumbrous word and a cumbrous sentence, the former of which seems the lesser evil. “Electrocution” has been widely used, even by scientific men, while the only plausible alternative thus far suggested—“electrothany”—though possessing the merit of unmixed ancestry, is inadequate in that it carries no penal signification.

   • 1952, Norman Lewis, Golden Earth, Chapter 8:

     Mandalay. In the name there was a euphony which beckoned to the imagination, yet this was the bitter, withered reality.

2. The tendency to make phonetic change for ease of pronunciation.

• ideophone
• phonaesthesia