graph·eme / ˈgrafēm/ • n. Linguistics the smallest meaningful contrastive unit in a writing system. Compare with phoneme.DERIVATIVES: gra·phe·mic / graˈfēmik/ adj.gra·phe·mi·cal·ly / graˈfēmik(ə)lē/ adv.gra·phe·mics / graˈfēmiks/ n.

GRAPHEME. In LINGUISTICS, a minimal unit in a writing system, consisting of one or more symbols serving to represent a PHONEME. Each grapheme is realized in writing or print by its graphs, such as the different ways of writing and printing an a or a t. An individual graph, when compared with another graph or representing a grapheme, is called an allograph. See -EME.