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Glite Dictionary
🤫 A voiceless sound 🤫 Voiceless (phonetic) √ An irrational number
surd

surd

1 9.9
A consonant made without your vocal cords vibrating
  • noun
  • /sɜrd/
  • Specialized
translation icon : sordo
  • The sound surd is essential in phonetics.

Examples

  • In English, the sound of s in 'sip' is classified as a surd.

  • Linguists categorize 'f', 'k', and 't' as examples of surd consonants.

  • Unlike 'z', which is voiced, 's' is a surd since it lacks vocal cord vibration.

  • Can you identify the surd in this word?

  • In linguistics, a surd is a consonant sound that is produced without the vocal cords vibrating.

  • The letter 's' in 'sun' is a surd because it is voiceless and doesn't require vocal cord vibration.

  • When teaching phonetics, it's important to distinguish between voiced sounds and surd consonants.

Synonyms

voiceless consonant
vssurd
  • Specialized
5.6

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

has identical meaning but is a shorter single-word term

Antonyms

voiced
  • Specialized
5.3

A sound made when parts inside your throat vibrate

Surface Forms

surd singular
surds plural

Etymology

Surd comes from the Latin surdus, which meant 'deaf' or 'silent'. It was used for consonant sounds that have no voice because the vocal cords do not vibrate, so a surd is a voiceless consonant.