spirant

[spahy-ruhnt]

noun

1. fricative.

adjective

1. Also spirantal fricative.

spirant

/ ˈspaɪrənt /

adjective

1. phonetics another word for fricative

noun

1. a fricative consonant

Word History and Origins

Origin of spirant¹

1865–70; < Latin spīrant- (stem of spīrāns, present participle of spīrāre to breathe); spirit, -ant

Word History and Origins

Origin of spirant¹

C19: from Latin spīrāns breathing, from spīrāre to breathe

Example Sentences

Later, as Latin did not use for the consonant written as v in vis, &c. , was dropped and received a new special value in Latin as representative of the unvoiced labio-dental spirant.

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It is classed as a surd spirant, its corresponding sonant spirant being v, which is distinguished from f by being pronounced with voice instead of breath, as may be perceived by pronouncing ef, ev.

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G is the soft spirant, not used in English.

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We find that b, d, g were used initially to denote the voiced stops, but medially and finally they represent spirants, the voiced stops in this case being denoted by c, p, t.

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In Late Latin there was a tendency to this spirant pronunciation which appears as early as the beginning of the 2nd century A.D.; by the 3rd century b and consonantal u are inextricably confused.

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