spirant
Americannoun
adjective
adjective
noun
Etymology
Origin of spirant
1865–70; < Latin spīrant- (stem of spīrāns, present participle of spīrāre to breathe); spirit, -ant
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.
Waith, O. N. væiðr, has kept the spirant, but faid, a "company of hunters," has changed it to d.
From Scandinavian influence on Southern Lowland Scotch by Flom, George Tobias
How he would lie! and what lungs he had to lie with! immensa cavi spirant mendacia folles!
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 368, June 1846 by Various
Floribus in pratis, legi quos ipse, coronam Contextam variis, do, Rhodoclea, tibi: Hic anemone humet, confert narcissus odores Cum violis; spirant lilia mista rosis.
From Dr. Johnson's Works: Life, Poems, and Tales, Volume 1 The Works of Samuel Johnson, Ll.D., in Nine Volumes by Johnson, Samuel
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.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 1 "Austria, Lower" to "Bacon" by Various
The Sco. garth has changed the original voiced spirant to a voiceless one.
From Scandinavian influence on Southern Lowland Scotch by Flom, George Tobias
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.
