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Glite Dictionary
🗣️ Voiced sound 🗣️ A voiced sound
sonant

sonant

9.9
Made when the vocal cords vibrate during speech
  • adjective
  • /ˈsɒnənt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : sonoro
  • Unlike the voiceless 's', the 'z' is a sonant because the vocal cords vibrate.

Examples

  • The letter 'z' is a sonant consonant because it is pronounced with vocal cord vibration.

  • In phonetics, a sonant is produced with vocal cord vibration.

  • Linguists use the term sonant to describe sounds like 'b', 'd', and 'g'.

  • The letter sonant refers to voiced sounds.

  • In phonetics, the term sonant refers to vowels and voiced consonants, like 'b' and 'd'.

  • The difference between a voiceless and a sonant sound lies in whether the vocal cords vibrate.

  • A sonant sound, such as 'm', is made with the vocal cords vibrating during pronunciation.

Synonyms

soft
vssonant
  • Specialized
12 4.2

Made by vibrating the vocal cords

is the technical phonetic term rather than a general descriptive word
voiced
vssonant
  • Specialized
5.3

A sound made when parts inside your throat vibrate

is the less common or specialist term for the same sound

Antonyms

voiceless
  • Specialized
1 7.0

A speech sound made without vibration of the vocal cords

How Voiced

sonant
  • Specialized
9.9
voiceless
  • Specialized
1 7.0

Surface Forms

sonant positive

Morphology

sonant = son + ant

Built from the combining form 'son-' (sound) plus the adjectival suffix '-ant'; the combining form is not a standalone English word, so the relation may be unfamiliar to average learners.

Etymology

Sonant comes from the Latin root sonare 'to sound', the same root you find in sonic and the English word sound, so think of it as 'sounding'. A sonant adjective describes a speech sound made when the vocal cords vibrate, that is, a 'voiced' sound.