Definition of "orthoepy" [orthoepy]

• The study of the pronunciation of words. (noun)
• The study of the relationship between the pronunciation of words and their orthography. (noun)
• The customary pronunciation of words. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "As a point of historical etymology, it is probable that the word in question was suggested to those who first used it by the German Wasserscheide; but the spelling WATER-SCHED, proposed by Herschel, is objectionable, both because SCH is a combination of letters wholly unknown to modern English orthography, and properly representing no sound recognized in English orthoepy, and for the still better reason that WATER-SHED, in the sense of DIVISION-OF-THE-WATERS, has a legitimate English etymology."
• "Siksha, one of the six branches of Vedas; it may be called the orthoepy of the Vedas."
• "_Bere_ is the old orthoepy of _bare_; and every one knows that in London (east) a fell_ow_ naturally becomes a fell_ar_."