💨 Friction sound 💨 A fricative

spirant

9.9

Made by pushing air through a small opening in the mouth to make sounds like f or s

adjective
/ˈspaɪrənt/

Specialized

: espirante

In English, the spirant sounds include 'f', 'v', 's', and 'z'.

Examples

Some children initially replace spirant consonants with stops in early speech development.
The spirant sounds in the language can be quite challenging to pronounce.
The transition from a stop to a spirant is called spirantization in phonology.
In phonetics, a spirant is often referred to as a fricative sound.
In English, the spirant sounds include 'f', 'v', 's', and 'z'.
The spirant sounds in the language can be quite challenging to pronounce.
In phonetics, a spirant is often referred to as a fricative sound.

Synonyms

fricative

vsspirant

Specialized

1 8.0

Made when air passes through a small gap, like f or s

has identical meaning but is an alternative technical name

Surface Forms

spirant positive

Morphology

spirant = spir (opaque) = spir + ant

Built from the combining form 'spir-' plus the technical adjective-forming suffix '-ant'; the combining form is not a standalone English word and the meaning ('a fricative sound') is a specialized phonetics term not deducible by typical learners.

Etymology

Spirant comes from the Latin root spirare meaning 'to breathe', the same root in inspire. So a spirant adjective describes a sound made by pushing your 'breath' through a small opening, which gives the noisy, friction quality of sounds like 's' or 'f'.