For those who are into linguistics: What is the term that describes the way a word sounds?

This may sound like an awfully simply question to google, but believe you me when I say that Google has not been very helpful where this is concerned.

In any case, I want to know what the term is which describes the way a word sounds as you are reading it. Like… the word “mellifluous” is used to describe sounds or passages which are melodic in quality, but what of the word “mellifluous” itself? The word itself has a very musical feel to it, and it is the term which encapsulates this concept I’m looking for.

In context, I want to say something like, “I hate/love the word ‘mellifluous’ simply because of its _______”.

It’s almost like “pronunciation”, but isn’t. And I’m sure that there’s a better way to phrase it than “I hate/love the word ‘mellifluous’ simply because of the way it sounds”.

In fact, on second thought, even my title may be misleading. This isn’t exactly a linguistics issue is it? It seems more of a subset under linguistics. Almost like… “etymology”, which is the study of words, but it isn’t.

Forgive me; I’m feeling rather Flaubertian right now.