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Glite Dictionary
🙊 Not spoken 🤐 No vocal sound
unvoiced

unvoiced

6.7
Made without using the voice, like the sounds p, k, and s
  • adjective
  • /ʌnˈvɔɪst/
  • Specialized
translation icon : sordo
  • Moreover, the middle radicals are also related in that both are unvoiced palatal fricatives.
  • unvoiced fricatives
  • voiced and unvoiced

Examples

  • In linguistics, the letters unvoiced when pronounced do not engage the vocal cords.

  • (And we'll pass right over the issue of whether the th should be voiced or unvoiced.)

    Blog text (7)

  • So the D is going to become T right before the unvoiced P of slap on.

  • The sounds unvoiced in the word 'cat' include the letters 'c' and 't'.

  • An example of an unvoiced consonant is the sound of 'p' in 'pin'.

Synonyms

voiceless
vsunvoiced
  • Specialized
1 7.0

A speech sound made without vibration of the vocal cords

is an alternative label with identical meaning
surd
vsunvoiced
  • Specialized
9.9

A sound that does not make your vocal cords vibrate, like p or k

is an alternative label with identical meaning
voiceless consonant
vsunvoiced
  • Specialized
5.6

A consonant you make without the vocal cords moving, like the 'p' in pat

is the broader descriptive term covering all such speech sounds

Antonyms

voiced
  • Specialized
5.3

A sound made when parts inside your throat vibrate

How Voiced

voiced
  • Specialized
5.3
vocal
69 3.5
unvoiced
  • Specialized
6.7

Surface Forms

unvoiced positive

Morphology

unvoiced = voiced (transparent) = un + voice + ed

Clear productive negation un- added to the adjective 'voiced' yields the phonetic meaning 'not produced with vocal cord vibration'.

Etymology

The word unvoiced comes from the prefix un- meaning 'not' and voice meaning 'sound made by the vocal cords'. So in speech sounds an unvoiced sound is 'not voiced' and is made without the vocal cords vibrating, like 'p', 'k', and 's'.