aspirated h
/ˈæspəɹeɪ̯tɪd eɪ̯tʃ/
aspirated h noun: in the French language, usage of the letter h at the start of a word which does not allow liaison with a preceding consonant or elision of a preceding schwa.
Noun
aspirated h
- In the French language, usage of the letter h at the start of a word which does not allow liaison with a preceding consonant or elision of a preceding schwa.
- The French word héros ("hero") begins with an aspirated h. Consequently we say le héros /lə e.ʁo/ and les héros /le e.ʁo/, but never /l‿e.ʁo/ and /le‿ze.ʁo/ as we do with the mute h.
- Synonyms:
- Germanic h
- Aspiration of a glottal consonant.
Synonyms of aspirated h
Antonyms
Origin of aspirated h
Calque of French h aspiré. The aspirated h was pronounced /h/ until Early Modern French (and still is in some northern dialects), whereas the mute h had long been silent. The designation has been maintained although both kinds of h are now technically silent in standard French, but the aspirated h remains pronounced dialectally and in Norman French.
Questions about aspirated h
- What does aspirated h mean?
- Aspirated h means in the French language, usage of the letter h at the start of a word which does not allow liaison with a preceding consonant or elision of a preceding schwa.
- What part of speech is aspirated h?
- Aspirated h is a noun.
- How do you pronounce aspirated h?
- Aspirated h is pronounced /ˈæspəɹeɪ̯tɪd eɪ̯tʃ/.
Words near aspirated h in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: aspirated h (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “aspirated h.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/aspirated_h. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.