Word.ws English Dictionary

fricative

/ˈfɹɪkətɪv/US/ˈfɹɪkətɪv/

fricative noun: any of several speech sounds produced by air flowing through a constriction in the oral cavity and typically producing a sibilant, hissing, or buzzing quality; a fricative consonant.

Noun

fricative (plural fricatives)

  1. Any of several speech sounds produced by air flowing through a constriction in the oral cavity and typically producing a sibilant, hissing, or buzzing quality; a fricative consonant.
    • Watt listened for a time, for the voice was far from unmelodious. The fricatives in particular were pleasing.1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC
    Synonyms:
    spirant

Adjective

fricative (comparative more fricative, superlative most fricative)

  1. produced by air flowing through a restriction in the oral cavity.

fricative meaning in Tamil, Kannada and Arabic

fricative in Tamil

உரசொலி

fricative in Kannada

ಉಜ್ಜುಲಿ

fricative in Arabic

consonant
اِحْتِكَاكِي iḥtikākī, رَخْو raḵw, صَوْت اِحْتِكَاكِي ṣawt iḥtikākī, صَوْت رَخْو ṣawt raḵw
produced by air flowing through a restriction in the oral cavity
رَخْو raḵw

Synonyms of fricative

Forms of fricative

Noun
pluralfricatives
Adjective
comparativemore fricative
superlativemost fricative

Origin of fricative

From New Latin fricatīvus, from Latin fricāre (“to rub”).

Words formed from fricative

Questions about fricative

What does fricative mean?
Fricative means any of several speech sounds produced by air flowing through a constriction in the oral cavity and typically producing a sibilant, hissing, or buzzing quality; a fricative consonant.
What is fricative in Tamil?
Fricative in Tamil is உரசொலி. See Fricative meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is fricative?
Fricative can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce fricative?
Fricative is pronounced /ˈfɹɪkətɪv/ (UK).
What is the plural of fricative?
The plural of fricative is fricatives.

Words near fricative in the dictionary

  1. fricated
  2. frication
  3. frications
  4. fricatise
  5. fricatised
  6. fricative
  7. fricatively
  8. fricativeness
  9. fricatives
  10. fricativisation
  11. fricativise

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fricative (page history and authors); fricative (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); fricative (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-fricative.wav.

Cite this entry: “fricative.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fricative. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.