The word "nonmatter" refers to things that do not have physical substance, such as feelings or ideas. The phonetic transcription for this word is /nɑn ˈmæt̬ər/. The first syllable "non" is pronounced as "nahn" and means "not", while the second syllable "matter" is pronounced as "mat-er" and refers to physical substance. The spelling of "nonmatter" reinforces the notion that this term is in opposition to the concept of matter, by adding the negative prefix "non" to the word "matter".