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Glite Dictionary
dental consonant

dental consonant

6.8
A speech sound made by touching the tongue tip to the upper front teeth
  • noun
  • /ˈdɛntəl ˈkɒnsənt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : consonante dental
  • The dental consonant /θ/ is found in the word 'think'.

Examples

  • The sounds /t̪/ and /d̪/ in some languages are classified as dental consonants.

  • Spanish has more dental consonants than English does.

  • Linguists often compare dental consonant pronunciation across different languages.

  • Many dental consonants require precise tongue placement.

  • The sounds /t̪/ and /d̪/ in some languages are classified as dental consonants.

  • Linguists often compare dental consonants pronunciation across different languages.

  • Many dental consonants require precise tongue placement.

Synonyms

dental
vsdental consonant
  • Specialized
8 7.0

A speech sound made when the tongue tip touches the upper front teeth

is a longer compound noun form rather than the shorter term

Surface Forms

dental consonant singular
dental consonants plural

Morphology

dental + consonant

The meaning is directly derivable from combining 'dental' (made with the teeth) and 'consonant' (a non-vowel speech sound): together they denote a consonant articulated at the teeth or gum ridge. This is a regular descriptive linguistic compound found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would understand the term.

Etymology

Dental consonant comes from the simple image of making a consonant at your teeth. When the tip of the tongue touches or comes near the front teeth, the 'sound' is made there, so dental points to the 'teeth' and consonant means the 'sound'.