guttural
Americanadjective
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of or relating to the throat.
-
harsh; throaty.
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Phonetics. pertaining to or characterized by a sound articulated in the back of the mouth, as the non-English velar fricative sound
noun
adjective
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anatomy of or relating to the throat
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phonetics pronounced in the throat or the back of the mouth; velar or uvular
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raucous
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of guttural
1585–95; < New Latin gutturālis of the throat, equivalent to Latin guttur gullet, throat + -ālis -al 1
Explanation
Guttural describes a hoarse sound made in the back of the throat. Your friend's voice might get low and guttural just before he bursts into tears. Growls and cries are often described as guttural. The Latin word guttur, "throat or gullet," is the root of guttural. That's why sounds that are deep and croaked as if they come from the back of your throat are guttural. In linguistics, speech sounds that start in the throat, like the consonants k and g, are called guttural consonants, and there are even guttural languages which contain many guttural sounds.
Vocabulary lists containing guttural
The Devil's Arithmetic
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The Girl Who Drank the Moon
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Twelve Years a Slave
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Guttural and rasping, with a face resembling a tree scorched by lightning, Scofield bristles with anger, but is in the end desperately lonely.
From The Guardian • Feb. 8, 2019
Guttural sounds of cheering in snatchy fragments were mingled with terms of approval and of endearment and of affection uttered in English, in German, in Russian, in Yiddish and in Finnish.
From The Thunders of Silence by Cobb, Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury)
Guttural sounds of approbation broke from the warriors, amid which he thought he could hear the voice of his wife earnestly calling upon his name, in the distance.
From Wau-nan-gee or the Massacre at Chicago A Romance of the American Revolution by Richardson, Major John
Guttural with emotion, Mr. Carter gasped: "I mean to work—indeed I do."
From Once Aboard the Lugger by Hutchinson, A. S. M. (Arthur Stuart-Menteth)
Vibratory sounds Labial R Lingual R Guttural R H is the sound produced in the larynx by the quick rushing of the air through the widely opened glottis.
From The Brain and the Voice in Speech and Song by Mott, F. W. (Frederick Walker)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
