consonant
UK/ˈkɒn.sə.nənt//ˈkɑn.sə.nənt/
consonant noun: a sound that results from the passage of air through restrictions of the oral cavity; any sound that is not the dominant sound of a syllable, the dominant sound generally being a vowel.
Noun
consonant (plural consonants)
- A sound that results from the passage of air through restrictions of the oral cavity; any sound that is not the dominant sound of a syllable, the dominant sound generally being a vowel.
- A letter representing the sound of a consonant.
- Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC
- “Tell me, has right anything to do with the law?” I asked. “You have used the wrong initial consonant,” he smiled in answer. “Might?” I queried; and he nodded his head.1908 February 19, Jack London, chapter 4, in The Iron Heel, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC
Adjective
consonant (comparative more consonant, superlative most consonant)
- Consistent, harmonious, compatible, or in agreement.
- Each one pretends that his opinion […] is consonant to the words there used.1710, William Beveridge, The true nature of the Christian church, the office of its ministers, and the means of grace administred by them explain'd. In twelve sermons
- Cheerfulness, even gaiety, is consonant with every species of virtue and practice of religion, and I think it inconsistent only with impiety and vice.1900, Sabine Baring-Gould, “The Rev. Mr. Carter, Parson-Publican”, in Yorkshire Oddities, Incidents and Strange Events
- Having the same sound.
- consonant words and syllables1645-1650, James Howell, Epistolae Ho-Elianae
- Harmonizing together; accordant.
- consonant tones; consonant chords
- Of or relating to consonants; made up of, or containing many, consonants.
- No Russian whose dissonant consonant name / Almost shatters to fragments the trumpet of fame.1813, Thomas Moore, Intercepted Letters, or the Two-Penny Post-Bag
consonant meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
consonant in Hindi
- sound
- व्यंजन vyañjan
- letter
- व्यंजन वर्ण vyañjan varṇ
consonant in Tamil
- sound
- ஒற்று oṟṟu
- letter
- மெய்யெழுத்து meyyeḻuttu
consonant in Marathi
- consonant
- व्यंजन vyañjan
consonant in Urdu
- sound
- مُصَمَّتَہ musammata, صامِت sāmit
More languagesFewer languages
- consonant in Bengali
- ব্যঞ্জনধ্বনি bênjonddhoni, ব্যঞ্জন bênjon
- consonant in Telugu
- హల్లు hallu
- consonant in Malayalam
- വ്യഞ്ജനം vyañjanaṁ, വ്യഞ്ജനാക്ഷരം vyañjanākṣaraṁ
- consonant in Kannada
- ಮುಚ್ಚುಲಿ
- consonant in Punjabi
- ਵਿਅੰਜਨ viañjan
- consonant in Odia
- ବ୍ଯ଼ଞ୍ଜନବର୍ଣ, ବ୍ଯ଼ଞ୍ଜନବୃତ୍ତ
- consonant in Sanskrit
- व्यञ्जन vyañjana
- consonant in Nepali
- कन्सोनेन्ट
- consonant in Pashto
- صامت sāmét, بې غږه be ǧáẓa, بې ږغه be ẓáǧa, غيرغږيز ǧayreǧaẓíz
- consonant in Tagalog
- katinig
- consonant in Arabic
- صَامِت ṣāmit, حَرْف ḥarf
- consonant in Malay
- bunyi mati, konsonan, huruf mati
- consonant in Indonesian
- huruf mati, konsonan
- consonant in Thai
- พยัญชนะ pá-yan-chá-ná
- consonant in Vietnamese
- phụ âm
- consonant in Myanmar
- ဗျည်း byany:
Examples of consonant in a sentence
- Voicing is a feature of the consonants b, d, and g.
- Arabic is considered a very guttural language, with many harsh consonants.
- Each consonant symbol in the shorthand is qualifiable with various vowel markers.
Antonyms of consonant
Forms of consonant
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | consonants |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more consonant |
| superlative | most consonant |
Origin of consonant
From Middle English consonant or consonaunt, from Old French consonant, from Latin cōnsonāns (“sounding with”), from the prefix con- (“with”) + the present participle sonāns (“sounding”), from sonāre (“to sound”). The Latin is a calque of Ancient Greek σύμφωνον (súmphōnon).
Words formed from consonant
- consonantal
- consonantary
- consonant cluster
- consonant gradation
- consonant harmony
- consonanthood
- consonantic
- consonantism
- consonantize
- consonantless
- consonantly
- consonantness
- consonantoid
- consonant rhyme
- consonant stem
- contoid
- inconsonant
- linking consonant
- nasal consonant
- nonconsonant
- semiconsonant
- syllabic consonant
- unconsonant
- vocalic consonant
Phrases with consonant
Questions about consonant
- What does consonant mean?
- Consonant means a sound that results from the passage of air through restrictions of the oral cavity; any sound that is not the dominant sound of a syllable, the dominant sound generally being a vowel.
- What is consonant in Hindi?
- Consonant in Hindi is व्यंजन (vyañjan), व्यंजन वर्ण (vyañjan varṇ). See Consonant meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is consonant?
- Consonant can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce consonant?
- Consonant is pronounced /ˈkɒn.sə.nənt/ (UK).
- What is the plural of consonant?
- The plural of consonant is consonants.
Words near consonant in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: consonant (page history and authors); व्यंजन (Marathi) (page history and authors); ব্যঞ্জন (Bengali) (page history and authors); consonant (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਵਿਅੰਜਨ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); consonant (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); consonant (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-consonant.ogg.
Cite this entry: “consonant.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/consonant. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.