sonant

[ soh-nuhnt ]

See synonyms for sonant on Thesaurus.com

adjective

sounding; having sound.
Phonetics. voiced (opposed to surd).

nounPhonetics.

a speech sound that by itself makes a syllable or subordinates to itself the other sounds in the syllable; a syllabic sound (opposed to consonant).
a voiced sound (opposed to surd).

(in Indo-European) a sonorant.

Origin of sonant

1840–50; <Latin sonānt- (stem of sonāns), present participle of sonāre to sound¹. See son-, -ant

Other words from sonant

so·nan·tal [soh-nan-tl], /soʊˈnæn tl/, so·nan·tic [soh-nan-tik], /soʊˈnæn tɪk/, adjective
in·ter·so·nant, adjective
non·so·nant, adjective, noun
un·so·nant, adjective
un·so·nan·tal, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

British Dictionary definitions for sonant

sonant

/ (ˈsəʊnənt) /

adjective

phonetics denoting a voiced sound capable of forming a syllable or syllable nucleus
inherently possessing, exhibiting, or producing a sound

noun

phonetics a voiced sound belonging to the class of frictionless continuants or nasals (l, r, m, n, ŋ) considered from the point of view of being a vowel and, in this capacity, able to form a syllable or syllable nucleus

Origin of sonant

C19: from Latin sonāns sounding, from sonāre to make a noise, resound

Derived forms of sonant

sonance, noun
sonantal (səʊˈnæntəl) or sonantic, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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