spirant (redirected from spirantize)

spi·rant  (sprnt)

n.

See fricative.

adj.

Fricative.

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[Latin sprns, sprant-, present participle of sprre, to breathe.]

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	spirant - a continuant consonant produced by breath moving against a narrowing of the vocal tract fricative, fricative consonant continuant, continuant consonant - consonant articulated by constricting (but not closing) the vocal tract sibilant, sibilant consonant - a consonant characterized by a hissing sound (like s or sh)
Adj.	1.	spirant - of speech sounds produced by forcing air through a constricted passage (as `f', `s', `z', or `th' in both `thin' and `then') continuant, fricative, sibilant, strident soft - (of speech sounds); produced with the back of the tongue raised toward the hard palate; characterized by a hissing or hushing sound (as `s' and `sh')