acoust(o)- Also acous-, acou-, and acoustico-.
Sound or hearing.
[Greek akoustikos, from akouein, to hear (acou- comes from the latter).]
Acoustics is the branch of physics concerned with the properties of sound; the field of acoustooptics studies interactions between very high frequency sound waves and beams of laser light. In medicine, acousma (also called acouasm) is a non-verbal auditory hallucination, such as a ringing or hissing; acousticophobia is fear of noise. See also -acusis and audio-.
Visit Michael Quinion’s World Wide Words site for 2000+ articles on English!
Copyright © Michael Quinion 2008–. All rights reserved. Page last updated 23 September 2008.
Your comments and suggestions on the site are very welcome.