consonant
English
WOTD – 30 April 2012
Etymology
From Middle English consonant or consonaunt, from Old French consonant, from Latin cōnsonāns (“sounding with”), from the prefix con- (“with”) + the present participle sonāns (“sounding”), from sonāre (“to sound”). The Latin is a calque of Ancient Greek σύμφωνον (súmphōnon).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kŏn'sənənt, IPA(key): /ˈkɒn.sə.nənt/
- (US) enPR: kän's(ə)nənt, IPA(key): /ˈkɑn.sə.nənt/, /ˈkɑns.nənt/
Audio (US) (file)
Noun
consonant (plural consonants)
- (phonetics) A sound that results from the passage of air through restrictions of the oral cavity; any sound that is not the dominant sound of a syllable, the dominant sound generally being a vowel.
- A letter representing the sound of a consonant.
- The 19 unquestionable consonants in the English alphabet are B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, X, Z.
- 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], OCLC 16832619:
- Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.
Translations
sound
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letter
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Adjective
consonant (comparative more consonant, superlative most consonant)
- Characterized by harmony or agreement.
- Bishop Beveridge
- Each one pretends that his opinion […] is consonant to the words there used.
- Dr. H. More
- That where much is given shall be much required is a thing consonant with natural equity.
- United States Supreme Court, Pennekamp v. Florida 328 U.S. 331,334 (1946)
- This essential right of the courts to be free of intimidation and coercion was held to be consonant with a recognition that freedom of the press must be allowed in the broadest scope compatible with the supremacy of order.
- Bishop Beveridge
- Having the same sound.
- Howell
- consonant words and syllables
- Howell
- (music) Harmonizing together; accordant.
- consonant tones; consonant chords
- Of or relating to consonants; made up of, or containing many, consonants.
- T. Moore
- No Russian whose dissonant consonant name / Almost shatters to fragments the trumpet of fame.
- T. Moore
Quotations
- For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:consonant.
Antonyms
Related terms
Translations
Characterized by harmony or agreement
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Catalan
Pronunciation
Latin
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