lenis

American  

[lee-nis, lay-] / ˈli nɪs, ˈleɪ- /

adjective

1. pronounced with relatively weak muscular tension and breath pressure, resulting in weak sound effect: in stressed or unstressed position, (b, d, g, j, v, th̸, z, andzh ) are lenis in English, as compared with (p, t, k, ch, f, th, s, andsh ), which are fortis.

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noun

• lenes
  plural

1. a lenis consonant.

lenis British  

/ ˈliːnɪs /

adjective

1. (of a consonant) articulated with weak muscular tension

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noun

1. a consonant, such as English b or v, pronounced with weak muscular force

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• lenes
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of lenis

First recorded in 1925–30; from Latin: “soft, mild, gentle”

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lenis lenes

For comparisons with Thomomys bottae lenis and contractus see accounts of those forms.

From The Pocket Gophers (Genus Thomomys) of Utah, Vol. 1 No. 1 Kansas University Publications. by Stephen D. Durrant

If the phrase that is to be sung commences with a word beginning with an initial vowel, care must be taken to employ the normal coup de glotte, or spiritus lenis.

From The Voice Its Production, Care and Preservation by Frank E. Miller

Large size is the distinctive feature of Thomomys bottae lenis.

From The Pocket Gophers (Genus Thomomys) of Utah, Vol. 1 No. 1 Kansas University Publications. by Stephen D. Durrant

The animals from Lynndyl which are intergrades between lenis, an eastern mainland form, and centralis and aureiventris which are western mainland forms of Lake Bonneville lend support to this hypothesis.

From The Pocket Gophers (Genus Thomomys) of Utah, Vol. 1 No. 1 Kansas University Publications. by Stephen D. Durrant

The church fills, friars start the hymn outside to the words, "Mater dulce carmen lenis," the bells going right through the hymn with excellent effect.

From Shakespeare and Music by Christopher Wilson

Chief exhorter of the Victoria Char lenes, Mme.

From Time Magazine Archive

Both pairs were used to express the lenes medially between vowels.

From A Middle High German Primer Third Edition by Joseph Wright

Men become under its subduing dietary influence, "lenti et lenes."

From Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure by William Thomas Fernie

How the so-called aspirates differ from their corresponding lenes has not yet been determined.

From A Handbook of the English Language by R. G. (Robert Gordon) Latham

A further peculiarity of Scottish Gaelic is that it substitutes lenes or voiceless mediae for the voiced stops, and even l, r, n sounds show a great tendency to give up the voice.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 5 "Cat" to "Celt" by Various

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