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guttural

guttural

6 8.2
A sound made deep in the throat
  • adjective
  • /ˈɡʌtərəl/
translation icon : guttural
  • Remember that, in Dutch, the 'g' is a guttural sound.
  • guttural sound
  • guttural voice
  • guttural grunt

Very, very low and guttural, like when you really find something funny, right, That's pretty good.

Examples

  • "We are in command of these premises," groaned one in a guttural voice.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • Even so, kids at school had noticed the guttural hint of a German accent in Trudy's speech.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • As suddenly, in a deep, guttural voice, he speaks.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • Learning where to buy bread and vegetables, struggling to understand the guttural, broken English of the sellers in the market.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • There was the slightest guttural hint of a German accent.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • The senior resident, waking, replied with a guttural sound, and then another that by intonation was a question.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • Holding tight to Jimmy's arm, the priest shouted at him in guttural English.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • Not high Mandarin, apparently, but some guttural peasant dialect.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • "How is a fish caught?" asks the wrinkled, rumpled, 73-year-old eccentric in a guttural Polish-Israeli-New York accent.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • The singer's voice had a distinctively guttural quality that captivated the audience.

Synonyms

throaty
vsguttural
7 6.1

A low, deep sound that comes from the throat

is made specifically in the vocal tract rather than only sounding husky
growly
vsguttural
1 5.7

Making a low rough sound like a dog or bear

is formed in the vocal tract rather than emphasising rough animallike tone

Compounds

guttural consonant
  • Specialized
9.3

A sound you make when speaking at the back of the mouth or in the throat

How Throaty

guttural
6 8.2
hoarse
25 3.4
harsh
47 3.9

Surface Forms

guttural positive
gutturaler comparative
gutturalest superlative

Morphology

guttural = guttur + al

Formed from a non‑productive combining form ('guttur-') plus the suffix '-al'; the combining form is not a standalone English word, so learners cannot reliably derive 'produced in the throat' from familiar English components.

Etymology

Guttural comes from the Latin word guttur meaning 'throat', so it describes sounds made deep in the throat rather than in the mouth.