different between voiceless vs consonant

English

Etymology

voice +? -less

Adjective

voiceless (not comparable)

1. Lacking a voice, without vocal sound.
   • 1994, Loreena McKennitt, The Mystic's Dream

     A voiceless song in an ageless light / Sings at the coming dawn / Birds in flight are calling there / Where the heart moves the stones / It's there that my heart is calling / All for the love of you.

2. (figuratively) Without a vote; having no input into a decision.
3. (phonetics, of a consonant) Spoken without vibration of the vocal cords; unvoiced, surd. Examples: [t], [s], [f].

Synonyms

• inaudible
• silent
• unvoiced

Antonyms

• audible
• vocal
• voiced

Translations

See also

• speechless

English

Etymology

From Middle English consonant or consonaunt, from Old French consonant, from Latin c?nson?ns (“sounding with”), from the prefix con- (“with”) + the present participle son?ns (“sounding”), from son?re (“to sound”). The Latin is a calque of Ancient Greek ???????? (súmph?non).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: k?n's?n?nt, IPA^(key): /?k?n.s?.n?nt/
• (US) enPR: kän's(?)n?nt, IPA^(key): /?k?n.s?.n?nt/, /?k?ns.n?nt/

Noun

consonant (plural consonants)

1. (phonetics) A sound that results from the passage of air through restrictions of the oral cavity; any sound that is not the dominant sound of a syllable, the dominant sound generally being a vowel.
2. A letter representing the sound of a consonant.

Translations

Adjective

consonant (comparative more consonant, superlative most consonant)

1. Characterized by harmony or agreement.
   • 1710, William Beveridge, The true nature of the Christian church, the office of its ministers, and the means of grace administred by them explain'd. In twelve sermons

     Each one pretends that his opinion […] is consonant to the words there used.

   • 1900, Sabine Baring-Gould, "The Rev. Mr. Carter, Parson-Publican", in Yorkshire Oddities, Incidents and Strange Events

     Cheerfulness, even gaiety, is consonant with every species of virtue and practice of religion, and I think it inconsistent only with impiety and vice.

   • 1946, United States Supreme Court, Pennekamp v. Florida 328 U.S. 331,334

     This essential right of the courts to be free of intimidation and coercion was held to be consonant with a recognition that freedom of the press must be allowed in the broadest scope compatible with the supremacy of order.

2. Having the same sound.
   • 1645-1650, James Howell, Epistolae Ho-Elianae

     consonant words and syllables

3. (music) Harmonizing together; accordant.

   consonant tones; consonant chords

4. Of or relating to consonants; made up of, or containing many, consonants.
   • 1813, Thomas Moore, Intercepted Letters, or the Two-Penny Post-Bag

     No Russian whose dissonant consonant name / Almost shatters to fragments the trumpet of fame.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:consonant.

Antonyms

• disconsonant
• dissonant
• discordant

Related terms

• consonance
• consonantal

Translations

See also

• vowel
• semivowel
• Wikipedia article on consonants

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin consonans, attested from the 14th century.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /kon.so?nant/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /kun.su?nan/
• Rhymes: -ant

Adjective

consonant (masculine and feminine plural consonants)

1. consonant

Noun

consonant f (plural consonants)

1. consonant

Derived terms

• consonàntic

References

Further reading

• “consonant” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “consonant” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “consonant” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?kon.so.nant/, [?kõ?s??nän?t?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?kon.so.nant/, [?k?ns?n?n?t?]

Verb

c?nsonant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of c?nson?