sonant

American  

[soh-nuhnt] / ˈsoʊ nənt /

adjective

1. sounding; having sound.

2. Phonetics. voiced (opposed to surd).

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noun

Phonetics.

1. a speech sound that by itself makes a syllable or subordinates to itself the other sounds in the syllable; a syllabic sound (opposed to consonant).

2. a voiced sound (opposed to surd).

3. (in Indo-European) a sonorant.

sonant British  

/ səʊˈnæntəl, ˈsəʊnənt /

adjective

1. phonetics denoting a voiced sound capable of forming a syllable or syllable nucleus

2. inherently possessing, exhibiting, or producing a sound

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noun

1. phonetics a voiced sound belonging to the class of frictionless continuants or nasals (l, r, m, n, ŋ ) considered from the point of view of being a vowel and, in this capacity, able to form a syllable or syllable nucleus

Other Word Forms

• intersonant
  adjective
• nonsonant
  adjective
• sonance
  noun
• sonantal
  adjective
• sonantic
  adjective
• unsonant
  adjective
• unsonantal
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of sonant

1840–50; < Latin sonānt- (stem of sonāns ), present participle of sonāre to sound ¹. See son-, -ant

Example Sentences

On one side is a crown in faint relief, under that a bell in large proportion, and on it impressed in italics:— Campane Sonant canore.

From Curious Church Customs and Cognate Subjects by Andrews, William

Sonant, sō′nant, adj. sounding: pertaining to sound: uttered with sound, instead of breath alone, as certain alphabetic sounds.—ns.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various

Sonant melliflua hymnorum organa, suavissima angelorum melodia, cantica canticorum mira!

From Notre-Dame De Paris by Hapgood, Isabel Florence